NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump's New York hush money criminal trial Friday's trial was postponed until at least mid-April as the judge seeks answers to a last-minute leak of evidence that the former president's lawyers say hindered his ability to prepare a defense.
Manhattan Judge Juan Manuel Marchan ordered the 30-year order from Friday after Mr. Trump's lawyers complained that they had only recently begun receiving more than 100,000 pages of documents from a previous federal investigation into the matter. The court agreed to a postponement and scheduled the hearing for March 25th.
Marchand said he was holding a hearing at the request of Trump's lawyers to determine whether prosecutors should be sanctioned or the case should be dismissed.
The trial was scheduled to begin on March 25th, but the postponement means the trial will begin by April 15th. Prosecutors had said they would not object to a short delay.
In a letter Friday, Marchan asked Manhattan prosecutors and Trump's defense team, “Who is to blame, if any, for the delays in producing the document?” and whether it would harm either side. He said he would like to assess whether any sanctions would be warranted.
The judge asked for a chronology of events detailing when documents were requested and provided. He also wants all communications 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 to comment. President Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, also declined to comment.
Marchand's decision reversed what was shaping up to be Trump's first policy. Four criminal charges go to trial. Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has fought to delay all criminal proceedings, arguing he should not be forced to go to court when he should have an election trial.
Trump's lawyer recruitment 90 days delay, asked Merchan to dismiss the lawsuit entirely, saying that would delay the start of the trial until early summer.The prosecutor said, “It's okay.'' 30 days adjournment “We will exercise due diligence to ensure that the defendant has sufficient time to consider the new material.”
Trump's lawyers said they received tens of thousands of pages of evidence in the past two weeks from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, which investigated hush-money deals during the Trump era.
Trump's lawyers say the evidence includes records about Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer turned prosecution witness, and is “not guilty and favorable to the defense.” Prosecutors said that while some records are relevant, most of the new material submitted is “largely irrelevant to the subject matter of this case.”
The hush money lawsuit is based on the $130,000 paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign to suppress her claims that she had an extramarital sexual relationship with Trump years earlier. It focuses on allegations that Trump falsified company records to hide the true nature of payments made to Cohen.
playing cards pleaded not guilty since last year 34 felonies He is accused of falsifying business records and denies having sexual contact with Daniels. His lawyers argue that the payments to Mr. Cohen were legitimate legal fees and not part of a cover-up.
Prosecutors faced evidentiary problems after Trump's lawyers waited until Jan. 18, just nine weeks before jury selection was scheduled to begin, to subpoena the U.S. attorney's office for the entire case file. claims to have caused it.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office requested the complete file last year, but said the U.S. Attorney's Office had turned over only a portion of the records. The district attorney's office said Trump's lawyers received the documents last June, giving them plenty of time to seek additional evidence from the federal investigation.
It is not unusual for trials to be briefly delayed due to evidence issues, but any delay in the case involving Mr. Trump would have significant implications, and trial dates for other criminal cases have not been set until Election Day. It's been less than 8 months.
The defense is also seeking to postpone the trial until after the trial. Supreme Court rules on President Trump's presidential immunity claim, his lawyers say this may apply to some of the allegations and evidence in the hush money case. The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for April 25th.
President Trump has repeatedly asked for criminal trials to be postponed while he works to retake the White House.
“We want a delay,” Trump told reporters as he headed to a hearing in New York on February 15. “Of course I'm running for office. How can I run for office if I sit in a Manhattan courthouse all day?”
