Judge sets March date for Trump's first criminal trial

NEW YORK — A New York judge on Thursday rejected Donald Trump's attempts to dismiss charges of covering up hush money payments to an adult film actress, setting the stage for the first criminal trial of a former US president to begin on March 25.

At the same time, Trump's representatives attended a fiery hearing in Atlanta, pushing to have the prosecutors bringing separate charges of election fraud and racketeering against Trump disqualified from the case.

They are just two of four criminal cases facing the Republican front-runner as he campaigns to retake the White House, with his legal teams thus far failing to push the actual trials until after the Nov 5 vote.

Trump, who has seized on his legal woes to rev up his supporters and denounce Democratic opponent Joe Biden, reiterated his claim that the charges were "just a way of hurting me in the election".

"How can you run for election if you are sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long," Trump said as he arrived.

In the courtroom, his legal team argued he would not receive a fair trial in New York because another Manhattan jury awarded $83 million to E. Jean Carroll, a writer whom Trump was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed.

Judge Juan Merchan rejected that, as well as arguments by Trump's lawyers that there was too much media coverage for a jury to be unbiased. "Given all the information I have before me, we are moving ahead to jury selection on March 25," Merchan said.

Trump, who wore a trademark red tie and dark suit, fidgeted in his seat as his lawyer argued with the judge and prosecutors over jury screening.

"We can't ignore the elephant in the room — Mr Trump is running for president … a juror's political affiliation is something we need to know and understand," attorney Todd Blanche said.

The former president faces 34 counts of accounting fraud linked to payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March last year over the payments made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Leaving the courthouse, Trump described the proceedings as a "disgrace".

"It's a rigged state. It's a rigged city. It's a shame," he said.

Agencies via Xinhua