Trump hush money trial: 15,000 more pages of potential evidence coming
NEW YORK - New York prosecutors said Friday that they expect to get an additional 15,000 pages of potential evidence in Donald Trump’s hush money case - the latest and probably last batch of such papers that may end up delaying the first criminal trial of a former president.
In a new filing to New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he expects to receive one more set of documents from the U.S. attorney’s office - Bragg’s federal counterparts. Those federal prosecutors previously investigated much of the same conduct that became the basis for Bragg’s office to charge Trump last year with violating state laws on business records. Trump is accused of scheming to cover up his payment of hush money in 2016 to hide from the public an alleged sexual liaison years earlier with an adult-film actress.
Lawyers for Trump, who is again running for president and has clinched the Republican nomination, have argued that evidence from the federal investigation is critical to their being able to defend their client from the state charges. They also have accused prosecutors of deliberately withholding reams of such documents until the last minute before the scheduled March 25 trial.
In recent days, federal prosecutors turned over more than 100,000 pages of documents, angering Trump’s lawyers, who said they do not have enough time to review the material before trial. The defense team has asked for at least a 90-day delay, while Bragg on Thursday suggested a delay of one month.
Merchan has yet to weigh in publicly, though it would be unusual for a judge to reject a delay when both sides agree there should be one, and they differ only on how long it should be. Trump’s lawyers suggested that Merchan hold a hearing the week of March 25, and invite federal prosecutors to help answer any questions about the papers that they have turned over.
The U.S. attorney’s office “should be permitted to address the extraordinarily serious claim” by the Manhattan district attorney that federal prosecutors “wrongfully withheld responsive materials on a previous occasion,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their letter to the judge.
The latest twist in the case throws into doubt the one Trump criminal trial date that seemed on track. The three other criminal cases against him all face a variety of delays: in Washington, D.C., where he is charged with conspiring to block the 2020 election results, the court is waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s claims of presidential immunity; In Florida, where he is charged with mishandling classified documents and obstructing justice, the judge is still weighing a host of complex legal issues, many of them revolving around national security sensitivities; and in Georgia, state prosecutors have been embroiled in a two-month legal drama over a personal relationship that probably will force one of the key lawyers off the case.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him and accused prosecutors of pursuing him for political reasons as he runs for president again. Earlier this week, he won enough primaries to become the presumptive GOP nominee, setting up a rematch between him and President Biden.