©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, U.S., March 9, 2024. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s criminal trial over hush payments to a porn star before the 2016 U.S. election will begin in April at the earliest, after the judge granted a 30-day extension on Friday because of the late disclosure of the evidence to the judge. former president.
Judge Juan Merchan’s decision to delay the first criminal trial of a former US president marks another victory for Trump, who has sought to slow proceedings in his various legal entanglements as he prepares to challenge President Joe Biden in the election Americans of November 5th.
The case in New York state court in Manhattan, which was scheduled to begin March 25, was the first of four criminal indictments filed against Trump last year. While none of the other three cases have set trial dates, the delay in the New York trial could complicate scheduling of the others.
In a written ruling, Merchan did not announce a new set trial date in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. Instead, the judge will hold a hearing on March 25, after which he could set a trial date even further into the future.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the New York case to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence about a sexual encounter that she he said he had ten years ago. Trump has denied having such a meeting with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
The delay came after the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which had previously investigated Cohen’s payment to Daniels, disclosed more than 100,000 pages of documents related to Cohen this month in response to a subpoena from the team of Trump’s defense.
Trump’s lawyers said they needed a 90-day delay in the trial to review the material. Bragg had agreed to a 30-day delay.
Bragg’s office said Friday that many of the documents turned over by federal prosecutors were not relevant, and therefore were not part of a request made to the U.S. Attorney’s Office last year.
But Trump’s lawyers accused Bragg of trying to prevent them from obtaining potentially damaging information about Cohen, who is expected to be a key prosecution witness at the trial.
Merchan asked lawyers for both sides to give him a “detailed timeline” of their efforts to obtain documents from federal prosecutors.
“The requested documents are necessary so that the court can properly evaluate who, if any, is at fault for the late production of the documents,” Merchan wrote.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that Cohen paid Daniels to spare Trump’s family embarrassment, not to protect his election prospects as prosecutors have argued.
They said some of the material included in the late disclosure showed Trump had committed no crimes.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges that he violated campaign finance law through the payment to Daniels.
Trump also faces three other federal and state criminal charges, including two stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, as well as one related to his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving office in 2021. It was reported found not guilty of all charges.
Trump’s legal troubles have so far done no harm to his bid to regain the presidency. He clinched the Republican nomination this week.