NY DA Alvin Bragg Opposes Trump’s Attempt to Delay Hush Money Trial: He ‘Cannot Have It Both Ways’

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s attempt to delay his approaching hush money trial later this month.

Last week, Trump’s attorneys demanded the trial be delayed due to prejudicial publicity, citing the barrage of media coverage surrounding the case. Lawyers claimed the media coverage may have tainted the jury pool and prevented Trump from having a fair trial.

Bragg’s office responded in a court filing on Wednesday, claiming the latest request from Trump’s legal team is a part of a strategy to delay all of the former president’s criminal cases past the November election.

“Defendant simply cannot have it both ways: complaining about the prejudicial effect of pretrial publicity, while seeking to pollute the jury pool himself by making baseless and inflammatory accusations about this trial, specific witnesses, individual prosecutors, and the Court itself,” wrote prosecutor Matthew Colangelo in the filing.

“None of the new information presented by defendant supports his request for an adjournment; indeed, much of the new data actually confirms that this Court will be able to find twelve impartial jurors (and alternates) in Manhattan,” Colangelo added.

Trump’s trial is expected to begin on April 15th as he faces 34 charges of falsifying business records in order to cover a $130,000 hush money payment given to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Meanwhile, the Republican nominee also faces three other criminal indictments for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.