- Trump wants a delay in his NY hush money trial until SCOTUS determines if he has blanket immunity.
- The Constitution shields presidents from state prosecution for "official acts," his lawyers say.
In a remarkable, eleventh-hour request, lawyers for Donald Trump on Monday asked a judge to delay his New York hush money trial on presidential blanket-immunity grounds.
In papers filed in Manhattan, Trump's attorneys asked New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to delay the March 25 trial start date until the US Supreme Court decides on his federal election interference case.
Oral arguments in that case, in which he claims blanket immunity from prosecution for "official acts" made while president, are set for April 25.
"The scope of 'official acts' for purposes of applying presidential immunity is a developing area of the law that the Supreme Court is expected to address, at least to a certain extent, in Trump v. United States," the papers argue, referring to the Washington, DC, case.
Monday's 26-page defense filing does not explain how anything Trump said about his alleged commission of 34 counts of falsifying business documents in the Manhattan felony case can be understood as "official acts."
But certain statements he made about the Daniels payment are "official-acts evidence" and jurors should not see them, the filing argues.
They include what attorneys for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have alleged were Trump's "pressure campaign" to keep his then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, from cooperating with prosecutors probing the payment.
The defense similarly claims Trump was in his role as president on April 5, 2018, when he denied knowing about the hush money payment while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.
"Then why did Michael Cohen make those if there was no truth to her allegations," a reporter asked.
"Well, you'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney," he said. "And you'll have to ask Michael Cohen."
Asked "Do you know where he got the money to make that payment," Trump responded, "No, I don't know. No."
Trump was acting "in his official capacity as the nation's Chief Executive," when he made the statements, they argue in the filing to Merchan, signed by Trump attorneys Susan Necheles and Todd Blanche.
"Therefore, President Trump respectfully submits that an adjournment of the trial is appropriate to await further guidance from the Supreme Court, which should facilitate the appropriate application of the presidential immunity doctrine in this case to the evidence the People intend to offer at trial," the filing says.
Once SCOTUS issues a decision, "the Court should hold a hearing outside the presence of the jury to identify and preclude documentary and testimonial official-acts evidence based on presidential immunity," the lawyers argue.
Trump is accused of falsifying 34 checks, invoices, and ledger entries to disguise the hush money payment as legal expenses.
Manhattan prosecutors allege the October 28, 2016 payment to Daniels was an illegal campaign expenditure, made on the brink of the election to keep the porn actress from speaking publicly about an alleged affair with Trump.
Manhattan prosecutors have not yet responded to the filing.
This story has been updated to add additional details.