Jimmy Fallon jokes Trump will try to delay trial to mourn OJ Simpson’s death

Mr Trump has lost three 11th-hour attempts to delay the imminent hush money trial

Jimmy Fallon joked that Donald Trump will even use a creative defence – grieving the loss of OJ Simpson – to delay his imminent hush money trial after the former president faced a string of rejected attempts to stall the criminal trial from moving forward.

Mr Trump’s hush money trial – in which he is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to efforts to conceal so-called hush money payments to buy the stories of his alleged affairs ahead of the 2016 election – is set to begin on Monday 15 April in New York.

The former president and his legal team have repeatedly tried to stall the criminal trial from taking place. They lost three last-ditch bids in three days to delay the case.

“For the third time in three days, a judge just rejected his attempt to delay” the trial, Fallon said. “Trump has tried everything. He even requested a delay so he could mourn the loss of OJ.”

OJ Simpson died on Thursday after battling prostate cancer.

Simpson left behind a turbulent legacy. He parlayed his football superstardom into a movie career, quickly becoming a household name.

By 1995, his previous on-screen accomplishments were arguably eclipsed by the “trial of the century”, in which he was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman. The trial was televised, as was the epic car chase that preceded it. Television cameras captured the police pursuit through the streets of Southern California, featuring the football star riding in the backseat of a white Ford Bronco.

Simpson was ultimately acquitted.

Mr Trump has not spoken out about the death of Simpson. Jury selection in his trial, however, is still set to proceed on Monday.