Former President Donald Trump will attend a high court hearing in Manhattan on Monday, less than three weeks before the scheduled start. Criminal investigation – This would be a first in American history.
A trial in the case, which centered on what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Brock said was falsified business records in repayment of “hush money” payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, was originally scheduled to begin Monday.
Trump called the trial a “witch hunt” and a “hoax” as he entered the courtroom Monday morning. He has He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
There was a test schedule Derailed in early March When the Judiciary transferred new material related to the case to both sides. Judge Juan Merchan called a hearing Monday to resolve issues related to the new documents.
Hearing on Monday
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Trump's defense has asked for a lengthy trial delay — up to three months — or an outright dismissal, accusing Bragg's office of deliberately making insufficient efforts to obtain the documents. Prosecutors said they requested the documents last year, and the Justice Department initially refused, only to reverse in response to a defense subpoena.
The documents turned over in early March included more than 100,000 pages of bank records and related emails related to the Justice Department's investigation into Trump's former “fixer” and lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen entered a guilty plea to tax evasion in 2018 in a federal case and is now a key witness against Trump in the New York case.
Merson said at Monday's hearing that he wants to determine who is responsible for the documentation issues and what, if any, sanctions are needed to resolve the dispute. “There are no significant questions of fact to be resolved,” he noted.
The question is “how do we characterize the nature and scope” of the state's obligation to produce documents for the defense, known as pretrial discovery. The district attorney's office argued that they were not obligated to submit judicial documents. The number of records related to the case is relatively small — about 300 out of 100,000, said attorney Matthew Colangelo.
Trump's attorney, Todd Blanch, argued that “thousands and thousands” of records would be relevant and that the defense needed more time to sort through them. He also revealed that federal prosecutors informed him Sunday night that they wanted to hand over additional records related to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
In an earlier order, Merchan set a trial date of April 15, but added that “the court may set a new trial date, if necessary, when it rules on the defendant's motion to continue the trial.”
