Monday was speculated to be the day that the Manhattan district lawyer put former President Donald J. Trump on trial for prison expenses in New York State Courtroom. However the current disclosure of greater than 100,000 pages of data from federal prosecutors who beforehand investigated among the similar conduct prompted the choose overseeing the trial to delay it till the center of April.
The three-week delay was shorter than the 90 days proposed by Mr. Trump’s attorneys, who additionally needed the choose to throw out the case altogether. However Monday’s listening to — on the day that jury choice had been scheduled to start — may lead to additional delays.
The choose, Juan M. Merchan, had been able to proceed to trial on expenses introduced by the district lawyer’s workplace, which has accused the previous president of overlaying up a intercourse scandal throughout and after his 2016 marketing campaign.
Then, early this month, Mr. Trump’s attorneys and the district lawyer, Alvin L. Bragg, started receiving the paperwork from the federal prosecutors within the Southern District of New York, who in 2018 investigated a hush-money fee on the middle of the case. That investigation led to a responsible plea by Mr. Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen — a central witness within the district lawyer’s case — to marketing campaign finance violations.
Decide Merchan decided there have been “significant questions of fact which this court must resolve,” indicating that he needed to make clear why it took so lengthy for the data to emerge. He stated he would subsequently set a brand new trial date, if crucial.
Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors have argued towards additional delays. They not too long ago advised the choose that he ought to forge forward with the April 15 date because it supplies “a more than reasonable amount of time for defendant to review the information provided.”
In January, Mr. Trump’s attorneys subpoenaed the Southern District, which finally turned over greater than 100,000 pages of data to each the protection and the prosecution.
Final week, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors stated in courtroom papers that the newly disclosed paperwork contained restricted materials associated to the hush-money fee. They added that the overwhelming majority of the data had been immaterial or duplicative of proof already turned over to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors added that they’d beforehand sought a few of those self same data from the Southern District final 12 months. It’s unclear why the Southern District didn’t beforehand present that materials to Mr. Bragg, an in depth regulation enforcement associate.
