MANHATTAN (CN) — A New York judge on Friday delayed Donald Trump’s upcoming Manhattan criminal trial, pushing off the start date from March 25 to at least mid-April after the former president’s legal team requested more time to sift through newly-released evidence.
On Thursday, Manhattan prosecutors told the court that they “do not oppose” briefly delaying the trial in order to examine the new documents, which they claimed to include evidence related to Michael Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea. Prosecutors capped their delay request at 30 days, however, a far cry from the 90-day push Trump’s lawyers were hoping for.
“We do not oppose an adjournment in an abundance of caution and to ensure that defendant has sufficient time to review the new materials,” wrote Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a court filing.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan granted the brief adjournment on Friday.
“Trial on this matter is adjourned for 30 days from the date of this letter on consent of the people,” Merchan wrote in a three-page order.
The original March 25 start date will now be used for a hearing date to address issues about the late evidence dump from the federal court. On Thursday, Bragg said that the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan provided over 100,000 pages of previously-sealed discovery, prompting Trump’s lawyers to ask for the adjournment.
The trial could potentially be delayed further if Trump’s team gets its way. Prior to Merchan’s Friday order, Trump’s lawyers told the court that they intend to argue for a longer adjournment at that March 25 court appearence.
“Thirty days is not sufficient given the volume of recently produced materials and the nature of the ongoing disputes,” Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said in a letter to Merchan.
Merchan said Friday that he'll set a "new trial date, if necessary," when he rules on those disputes after the conference on March 25.
Details surrounding the late evidence dump remain unclear. Prosecutors claim that Trump’s lawyers caused the issue by waiting until January 18 to subpoena the full case file — just nine weeks before the planned start of jury selection.
But Trump’s lawyers contend this is a “meritless and counterfactual effort to shift fault.”
“The USAO-SDNY produced this large volume of records voluntarily, in response to a straightforward request by President Trump that the office exercise its discretion under federal regulations in a manner that promotes the interests of justice and the truth-seeking function of this case,” Trump said in a Friday filing.
Merchan said Friday that he wants “a detailed timeline of the events surrounding the requests and ultimate production of documents by the USAO-SDNY” to clear things up.
Trump is set to stand trial on charges that he falsified business records to cover up hush-money payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels while he was running for the 2016 presidency. Bragg brought the charges against the former president last year, claiming that Trump reimbursed his then-lawyer Michael Cohen for making the payments to keep Daniels quiet about a sexual relationship with Trump.
Trump has denied ever having a relationship with Daniels. He pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Cohen, now a staunch critic of Trump’s, is due to be one of Bragg’s star witnesses.
Bragg's case is the first of four criminal indictments against Trump, who is the only former or current president in U.S. history to be charged with criminal activity.
Follow @Uebey
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
A dangerous man named Kennedy April 26, 2024 -
