Last year, the Manhattan district attorney’s office faced a significant challenge in trying to thwart the former president Donald Trump from obtaining personal emails and text messages from Michael Cohena key witness in the Stormy Daniels silence case.
According to a recent report from the Daily Beast, Trump’s legal team bypassed local prosecutors by directly appealing to federal authorities, who had previously imprisoned Cohen, obtaining over 30,000 emails aimed at undermining Cohen’s credibility in the upcoming trial.
The move flooded the Manhattan district attorney’s office with documentation from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), complicating the prosecution’s efforts in what will be the first criminal trial of a former president American.
Todd BlancheTrump’s top defense lawyer, accused the prosecution of withholding evidence crucial to Trump’s defense, particularly highlighting concerns about its handling of Cohen’s phone data, the Daily Beast reported.
The defense is now tasked with reviewing more than 119,000 documents released by the SDNY since early March, a development that has moved the trial’s start date from March 25 to at least April.
“People’s behavior regarding Cohen’s phone data is particularly suspicious,” the Daily Beast quoted Blanche as saying.
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The complexity of the case is compounded by Cohen’s role in arranging a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels late in the 2016 presidential campaign. Initially investigated by the SDNY without directly involving Trump, this backstory adds an additional layer of complexity to the case .
However, the Manhattan district attorney later indicted Trump on 34 felonies related to falsifying business records to hide the payment.
In a strategic legal victory, Trump’s lawyers succeeded in securing the release of Cohen’s communications and other materials from the SDNY, despite efforts by the Manhattan district attorney to limit access to them. This includes bank records, personal communications and material seized from Cohen’s electronic devices in 2018.
Notably, the defense has yet to obtain a manuscript draft of a pro-Trump memoir that Cohen was writing in 2018, which they say could have significant value at trial.
The ongoing legal drama highlights the intricate battle between Trump’s defense team and the Manhattan district attorney, with both sides navigating a complex web of legal and procedural challenges ahead of the historic trial.
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This content was partially produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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