2024-03-16 07:00:19
Manhattan Judge Juan Manuel Merchan has delayed former President Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial until mid-April due to a “last-minute evidence drop.”
Merchan said he is holding the hearing to determine if prosecutors should face sanctions or if the case should be dismissed, as Trump’s lawyers have requested.
The trial had been scheduled to start on March 25. The delay means the trial would start no earlier than April 15. Prosecutors had said they wouldn’t object to a short delay.
In a letter Friday, Merchan told Manhattan prosecutors and Trump’s defense team that he wanted to assess “who, if anyone, is at fault for the late production of the documents,” whether it hurt either side and whether any sanctions are warranted.
The judge demanded a timeline of events detailing when the documents were requested and when they were turned over. He also wants all correspondence between the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Trump, and the U.S. attorney’s office, which previously investigated the matter in 2018.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined comment. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche also declined comment.
Trump’s team asked for 90 days and a dismissal.
The prosecutors claim the new evidence is “largely irrelevant to the subject matter of this case.” However, the evidence is “exculpatory and favorable to the defense” against Michael Cohen, according to the AP.
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
DA Alvin Bragg inherited the case when he came into office in 2022 but suspended it. Then, he brought it back when Trump announced his 2024 presidential campaign.
It sure sounds like Trump might have a point about it being political.
Supposedly, Trump paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair. His former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said he set it up and paid it out of his pocket, and the Trump Organization paid him back as “legal expenses.”
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