Trump makes video appearance in Stormy Daniels payment case

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared in a New York court via video chat as part of an ongoing case against him that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has brought against him in connection with 2016 payment his then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels.

Trump appeared with his lawyer, Todd Blanche, sitting next to him in Florida, according to the Associated Press. His feed was muted for most of the hearing.

The fifteen-minute hearing saw Judge Juan Merchan set a trial date for March of next year. The former president has pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal counts.

Bragg's bringing of charges made Trump the first ever former president to be indicted and the move has attracted considerable scrutiny from the political right and left. Allies of the former president have insisted that the case is politically motivated while myriad legal experts and even left-leaning pundits have derided the actual case as a farce.

The Manhattan DA's case, however, is far from the only legal matter for Trump. Earlier this month, a jury held him liable for battery and defamation against writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages, though he maintains his denial of Carroll's claims and his attorneys have filed a notice of appeal.

Moreover, he faces potential indictments in special counsel Jack Smith's federal investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified materials and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis's probe into his efforts to challenge the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.