Trump’s trial calendar becomes clearer – as do his delay tactics

Hush-money trial will begin on 25 March, with federal case on allegations over 2020 election hinging on supreme court action

Donald Trump’s legal calendar is coming into sharper relief after a New York judge affirmed last week that the ex-president’s first criminal trial – on charges that he manipulated the 2016 election by concealing hush money payments to an adult film star – will proceed to trial in Manhattan next month.

A federal case in Washington over the former president’s alleged plot to overturn the 2020 election had been expected to go first. But when Trump filed appeals on grounds of presidential immunity last year, the presiding US district judge, Tanya Chutkan, was forced to put the case on hold.