Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter readers. Donald Trump lost pretrial motions this week in all three criminal cases that haven’t been paused. (The fourth one is on hold, pending a Supreme Court review.) The hush money case is still on track for an April 15 trial in New York, Jack Smith and Aileen Cannon are dueling in Florida, and in Georgia — well, it’s still unclear where that one is headed, but Trump lost a dismissal motion there, too. Oh, and his civil fraud appeal bond that seemed settled is now raising questions.
In the hush money case, Judge Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s latest bid — this time, on a claim of presidential immunity — to delay the trial and preclude evidence against him. Of course, immunity is the issue holding up the federal election interference case on Supreme Court review. But Merchan slammed the former president’s attempt to use it to thwart the hush money trial. The judge called out the delay tactic, writing that the last-minute nature of the claim “raises real questions about the sincerity and actual purpose of the motion.”
Merchan also expanded Trump’s gag order, in yet another sign that the judge is done playing games. It now covers calling out the family members of the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg after Trump spread baseless statements about the judge’s daughter. Merchan warned Trump of sanctions — including possible imprisonment — that “will result” if the presumptive GOP nominee flouts the revised court order.
Meanwhile, things are heating up in the classified documents case. Judge Aileen Cannon rejected Trump’s fringe motion to dismiss it based on the Presidential Records Act, which sounds like good news for special counsel Jack Smith. Technically, it is. But Cannon also punted on deciding whether she will use wacky jury instructions that could tank the prosecution. That raises the question of whether and how Smith tries to appeal or remove the Trump appointee from the…
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