Donald J. Trump will stand trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records starting March 25, 2024. The timing was made public on Tuesday, May 23, during a hearing on the hush-money case in Manhattan by Judge Juan Merchan, who set the date. Trump attended court remotely to be instructed on a protective order regarding disclosing evidence. The former president reportedly frowned and crossed his arms as Merchan announced the trial would occur in the middle of the presidential primary campaign.

On May 8, the judge signed a protective order specifying what evidence Trump may discuss publicly. This concerns discovery material his defense team will gain access to as part of the pre-trial proceedings. One of Trump’s lawyers said the once and possibly future president thought his First Amendment rights were being violated. Merchan responded, “It’s certainly not a gag order, and it’s not my intention to impede Mr. Trump to campaign for president,” adding “[h]e’s free to do just about anything that does not violate the terms of this protective order.”

Trump is being tried on a novel prosecution theory brought by progressive Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and he has pled not guilty to all charges.

For Trump: First the Sentence, Then the Verdict!

In other legal news, numerous outlets have incorrectly reported that E. Jean Carroll sued Trump again for defamation after his statements on a recent CNN town hall. What she did instead was amend her original complaint to include:

“He doubled down on his prior defamatory statements, asserting to an audience all too ready to cheer him on that ‘I never met this woman. I never saw this woman,’ that he did not sexually assault Carroll, and that her account — which had just been validated by a jury of Trump’s peers one day before — was a ‘fake,’ ‘made up story’ invented by a ‘whack job.’ Those statements resulted in enthusiastic cheers and applause from the audience on live TV.”

Donald Trump (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Trump spoke out about the Carroll case as well on Tuesday. He wrote on his social media site that the case “is part of the Democrats playbook to tarnish my name and person” and was being funded by “Democrat operatives.” He also posted the following message twice:

“I don’t know E. Jean Carroll, I never met her or touched her (except on a celebrity line with her African American husband who she disgustingly called the ‘Ape,’), I wouldn’t want to know or touch her, I never abused her or raped her or took her to a dressing room 25 years ago in a crowded department store where the doors are LOCKED, she has no idea when, or did anything else to her, except deny her Fake, Made Up Story, that she wrote in a book. IT NEVER HAPPENED, IS A TOTAL SCAM, UNFAIR TRIAL!”

Carroll is now asking for $10 million in damages. However, she has already been awarded $5 million from Trump for sexual assault and defamation. She may get nothing at all because of a federal law called the Westfall Act. As Courthouse News Service’s’ Nina Pullano explained, it “is used more typically in cases like a U.S. Postal Service worker facing a lawsuit for an on-the-job car collision.” Trump is arguing his previous statements were made in the scope of his employment as president. If he’s successful, Carroll’s damage award will be thrown out.