NEW YORK — New York prosecutors said Thursday they were prepared to delay by a month “out of an abundance of caution” the start of Donald Trump’s criminal trial over hidden payments to a pornographic actress, in order to give to the former president’s lawyers while they review evidence from a previous federal investigation into the matter that they recently received.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a court filing that it was not opposed to postponing the start of the trial for up to 30 days, but indicated it would oppose the request in defense of a longer deadline. The evidence Mr. Trump’s lawyers received from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan is “largely irrelevant to the subject matter of this case,” the district attorney’s office said.
Jury selection in the hidden payments trial is scheduled for March 25. It is one of four criminal cases against Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
The former Republican president’s lawyers are seeking a 90-day delay and also asked Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to dismiss the case, alleging the last-minute disclosures violated rules governing the disclosure of evidence. This process, called evidence, is common in criminal cases and is intended to ensure a fair trial.
Short trial delays in providing evidence are not unusual.
Since March 4, Mr. Trump’s lawyers have received at least 84,000 pages of documents from the U.S. attorney’s office, including a batch of 31,000 pages on Wednesday, according to a court filing.
The defense also sought to delay the trial until the Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity for Mr. Trump, which his lawyers say could apply to some of the allegations and evidence in the Trump case. hidden payments. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on April 25.
Justice Merchan has not yet ruled on either application.
The New York case centers on allegations that Mr. Trump falsified his company’s internal records to hide the true nature of payments made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who helped Mr. Trump bury the embarrassing stories during his 2016 presidential campaign. Among other things, Mr. Cohen paid $130,000 to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to hush up her allegations of an extramarital sexual relationship with Mr. Trump years earlier.
The former president pleaded not guilty last year to 34 counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual relationship with Ms. Daniels and his lawyers argue that the payments to Mr. Cohen were legitimate legal fees and not part of any cover-up.
2024-03-14 22:03:26
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