Judge Delays New York Trump Trial

A judge ruled that the case of the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) against former President Donald Trump, would be delayed a month after a last-minute inclusion of alleged evidence from the U.S. Attorney for Southern Manhattan. Trump is facing accusations that he allegedly sent a payment to a retired adult actress after a brief relationship.

Judge Juan Merchan announced Friday to delay the trial for 30 days after Bragg’s office said that it would introduce 15,000 records it released from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Merchan made the decision to give the Trump legal team time to review the information.

🚨BREAKING🚨Trump’s New York Hush Money Trial Delayed By Judge https://t.co/yfNwELvgcn

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 15, 2024

The records from the U.S. Attorney’s office came from a separate investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over the same case involving the former president and Stormy Daniels.

Overall, the U.S. Attorney’s office provided more than 104,000 records, with some going only to the district attorney and not Trump’s attorneys at first.

Bragg’s team did not oppose a delay. Trump’s legal team sought either a 90-day delay in the trial or having the charges dropped. Trump’s attorneys said that there were issues in how both the prosecution and defense received evidence.

The former president’s legal team wrote that the 30 days chosen by Merchan was not enough and requested a separate hearing for discovery of evidence.

Trump faces 34 felony charges over accusations that he paid Daniels after their relationship. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen accused the former president of manipulating his records and directing him to make a $130,000 payment to Daniels.

The trial was set to begin on March 25th but will not begin in April at the earliest.

Trump denies all wrongdoing in the case and said that he did not have a relationship with the former adult actress. Trump’s legal team argued that Bragg’s office escalated charges that would normally be misdemeanors in New York’s criminal code. Because of the timing of the alleged payments, the statute of limitations regarding such misdemeanor charges would already be expired.