Donald Trump will go on trial in Manhattan April 15, a judge ruled Monday — denying the former president's bid to further delay or toss the "hush money" criminal case against him.

The 77-year-old's lawyers had sought to dismiss the case in Manhattan Supreme Court due to a last minute document dump.

But Justice Juan Manuel Merchan, at the end of a 70-minute hearing, found that prosecutors had given Trump a "reasonable" amount of time to sift through thousands of pages of newly disclosed evidence relating to Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams' case against Trump's ex-fixer Michael Cohen.

"This court finds that the DA is not at fault for the late production of documents," Merchan said from the bench, as Trump shook his head twice, and then looked down.

Dressed in a navy blue suit and his customary red tie, Trump sat quietly in the courtroom throughout the hearing.

Prior to entering the courtroom, he declared: "This is a witch hunt, this is a hoax."

After the hearing wrapped, he told reporters in the hallway that it was a "disgrace" that the case would go to trial during the presidential campaign.

"This is a case that could have been brought three and a half years ago. And now they're fighting over days because they want to try and do it during the election. This is election interference. That's all it is. Election interference and it's a disgrace," he said.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts after allegedly covering up $130,000 in "hush money" payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.