Former President Donald Trump will not be in court in Manhattan on Wednesday or subsequent Wednesdays for his hush money trial.
The trial will not have proceedings scheduled on Wednesdays to allow Judge Juan Merchan to deal with other court proceedings he has outside of the hush money trial. The procedure to mark one day of the week to take off from proceedings in a trial is common practice.
While Wednesdays are not expected to have any proceedings related to the hush money trial, the judge said he will not hold any sessions in court unless there are significant delays in the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.
Trump, who is required to be in court throughout the criminal trial, may use the off days in the middle of the week to his advantage as he campaigns for a second term in the White House. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge on Monday that the former president’s campaign has “taken pains” to put events on Wednesdays to accommodate the trial schedule, according to Politico.
The former president has infused a New York state of mind into his campaign while having to attend court proceedings in Manhattan by visiting a bodega in the city on Tuesday.
The bodega Trump visited was where clerk Jose Alba was attacked by a would-be robber in 2022, leading to Alba being charged with murder for defending himself. The charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump in the hush money case, were later dropped.
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Trump has complained about the trial schedule taking him away from campaigning in key swing states, among other events such as oral arguments in his presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court.
In the Manhattan hush money case, jury selection is set to resume on Thursday with Trump in attendance.
