Donald Trump hush-money trial date set for March 2024

Donald Trump will face a criminal trial in March 2024, a New York judge has ruled, as the Republican's campaign for the presidential nomination will be in full swing.

The former US president received the news at a hearing on Tuesday in the case about the alleged concealment of a payment to a porn star.

Mr Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

He pleaded not guilty to each charge last month.

After the hearing, Mr Trump aired his frustrations at the timing of the trial on his social network, Truth Social.

"They forced upon us a trial date of March 25th, right in the middle of the primary season," Mr Trump wrote, adding it was "very unfair" and "election interference".

The post appeared just hours after Judge Juan Merchan said restrictions on what Mr Trump can do and say in relation to the case would not restrict his ability to campaign.

Judge Merchan said Mr Trump "is certainly free to deny the charges, he is free to defend himself against the charges."

Mr Trump has long since decried the case as a "political Witch-Hunt, trying to take down the leading candidate, by far, in the Republican Party".

March 2024 is set to be a busy month for Mr Trump and the other candidates vying to become the Republican presidential candidate.

Candidates zig-zag across the US for a series of conventions, primaries and caucuses in every US state and territory, beginning in early states like Iowa in February and ending in or around early June.

The latest hearing was the second time Mr Trump appeared in court for the case. 

He was first arrested and appeared in a New York courtroom in April, where he was charged with 34 felony counts of fraud in a 16-page indictment.

These charges relate to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment made to adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, who says she was paid to stay quiet after having sex with him.

Providing so-called hush money is not illegal, but the case against Mr Trump centres around how his former lawyer, who paid Ms Daniels, had his reimbursement recorded in Mr Trump's accounts.

Mr Trump is accused of falsifying his business records in the first degree by saying the payment was for legal fees.

It is alleged the payments were intended "to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election".

The case is one of several legal woes faced by Mr Trump.

Earlier in May, a New York civil trial jury found Mr Trump liable for the defamation and sexual assault of E Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, and ordered him to pay her about $5m in damages.