Trump’s Hush Money Trial Delayed 30 Days
AP Photo/Charles Krupa
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money case has granted a 30-day delay in the trial a day after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to the Trump team’s request for more time to prepare.
The AP reported that Judge Juan Manuel Merchan granted the postponement Friday and scheduled a hearing for March 25. The trial itself was originally scheduled to begin on that day.
On Thursday, Bragg’s office issued a filing saying they did not object to the Trump team’s request “in an abundance of caution and to ensure that defendant has sufficient time to review the new materials.”
The former president’s attorneys originally asked for 90 days, arguing that they just recently received tens of thousands of pages of discovery they needed to review.
According to the AP:
The evidence includes records about former Trump lawyer-turned-prosecution witness Michael Cohen that are “exculpatory and favorable to the defense,” Trump’s lawyers said. Prosecutors said most of the newly turned over material is “largely irrelevant to the subject matter of this case,” though some records are pertinent.
The criminal case alleges that Trump falsified business records to hide a $130,000 reimbursement to Cohen. Cohen had used his own money to pay off adult actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential race so she wouldn’t talk about the affair.
Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the case. He has pleaded not guilty and denies having had relations with Daniels. Trump’s lawyers argue that the money given to Cohen “were legitimate legal expenses,” the AP reported. The AP explained the significance of a delay in the Trump case:
Short trial delays because of issues with evidence aren’t unusual, but any delay in a case involving Trump would be significant, with trial dates in his other criminal cases up in the air and Election Day less than eight months away.
Trump faces 88 charges in the four criminal cases against him in New York, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C.
Read the AP article here.
