Judge Juan Merchan delayed Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial which was originally scheduled to begin March 25 to mid-April.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday filed for a delay of up to 30 days in the Trump-Stormy Daniels ‘hush money’ trial in New York City.
The judge overseeing the case cited discovery concerns for his decision to allow for a delay.
Trump’s lawyers asked for a 90-day delay.
ABC News reported:
The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s New York hush money case has delayed the start of the trial from its original March 25 start date, due to discovery issues raised by the defense.
“Trial on this matter is adjourned for 30 days from the date of this letter,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote Friday, which would push the new trial date to mid-April.
The judge scheduled a hearing for March 25 to address the discovery concerns.
Lawyers for Trump were seeking to delay the start of the trial in order to allow them to review tens of thousands of pages of potential evidence recently disclosed by the Justice Department.
Merchan, in his ruling Friday, said “there are significant questions of fact” he must resolve before he decides whether the Manhattan district attorney flouted its obligations to disclose potential evidence, as alleged by the defense.
Alvin Bragg indicted Trump last April on 34 felony counts related to ‘hush payments’ he made to Stormy Daniels.
Trump was accused of paying porn star Stormy Daniels, AKA, Stephanie Clifford, ‘hush payments’ through his then-attorney Michael Cohen in a scheme to silence her and stop the story about their alleged affair from being published in the National Enquirer.
The payments made to Stormy Daniels did NOT come from Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The payments were made through internal business records – there was no tax deduction taken and there was no obligation to file it with the FEC, according to Trump attorney Joe Tacopina.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Trump was hit with a criminal charge for every payment he made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen in connection with the ‘hush payments’ to the two women.
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg went through the Trump Organization’s ledger and charged him down the line per payment to Cohen.
Every single payment to Michael Cohen was made in 2017 while Trump was president.
Bragg’s office copy and pasted the same charge 34 times and just switched out the check or voucher number.
Alvin Bragg didn’t explain what exactly he wanted to convict Trump of in the charging documents.
Bragg told reporters he doesn’t have to tell anyone what the underlying felony is.
He’s just allowed to charge Trump with 34 felonies without explaining what the underlying offense was.
