Attorneys representing former President Donald Trump have requested a one-month delay in the upcoming sexual assault and defamation trial, citing the need for a "cooling off" period following the groundbreaking indictment that accused Trump of falsifying business records. Joe Tacopina, one of Trump's lawyers, has asked Judge Lewis Kaplan to postpone the trial, currently set to begin on April 25, until the end of May.

Tacopina argues that the intense media coverage surrounding the criminal charges could potentially taint the jury pool, as jurors would likely have the charges "top of mind" when called upon.

Trump was indicted for allegedly falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels in order to prevent her from disclosing a past affair just days before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to these charges.

In his letter to Judge Kaplan, Tacopina stated, "To be sure, President Trump is a persistent subject of media coverage. But the present situation is unique because, as stated above, the recent coverage pertains to alleged sexual misconduct, the same issue at the heart of this litigation."

Trump has denied the affair with Daniels as well as the sexual assault allegations brought forth by E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine columnist. Carroll claims that Trump raped her in a New York department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

She initially filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump in 2019 after he denied the rape, stating "she's not my type" and suggesting that Carroll made the accusation to increase sales of her book.