The judge handling former President Trump’s hush money lawsuit is scheduled to hold a key hearing on Monday to determine who is responsible for the last-minute curveball that delayed the trial.
Trump’s trial was widely expected to begin on the same day as the hearing, until federal prosecutors began turning over more than 100,000 pages of records this month. The trial has now been postponed until at least mid-April.
On Monday, the parties will fight in a New York courtroom over whether further delays or sanctions are needed for the records, as Judge Juan Melchan seeks to determine why the records were not returned sooner.
“It’s like, ‘I Love Lucy.’ ‘Lucy, you have something to say!'” said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former chief assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) last year accused then-fixer Michael Cohen of paying adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about allegations just before the 2016 election. Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to repayments. Affair with Trump.
President Trump denies having an affair, but has acknowledged paying restitution and maintains his innocence.
The former president has repeatedly sought to delay all four criminal cases so he can first try to retake the White House and then drop or stall the prosecutions. But legal experts broadly agree that the hush-money case among President Trump’s indictments is most likely to go to trial by November.
At a hearing last month, the judge confirmed a March 25 trial date, and the schedule appeared to be set in stone. However, things soon changed.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York turned over more than 119,000 pages of records this month, according to court filings. The agency declined to comment.
Both parties are currently exchanging accusations over why the documents were only revealed now. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have even argued that Mr. Bragg has failed to meet his discovery obligations and are asking the judge to throw out the entire indictment or impose other sanctions as a result.
“It’s no big deal about nothing. He definitely had to delay the trial,” said Katherine Christian, a former special assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
“But the charges are not dismissed,” she added. “No witnesses will be excluded. No lawyers will be sanctioned. But this trial rightly should not have started on Monday.”
The exchange has been particularly heated, with each side accusing the other of fabricating facts.
New York has made “numerous untimely and inexplicably delayed disclosures and has actively thwarted President Trump’s efforts to obtain discoverable materials from the U.S. government.” [U.S. Attorney’s Office], Cohen, and Cohen Publishers, among others. “This misconduct warrants harsh remedies,” Trump’s lawyers said in court documents.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bragg’s office unsuccessfully sought documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office several months ago, arguing that he has shifted the blame to Mr. Trump and told the judge that he did his duty.
Prosecutors wrote in court documents last week: This tactic by defendants and defense attorneys must stop. ”
Mr. Christian, a former special assistant district attorney, said Mr. Bragg’s office likely did the right thing.
“Prosecutors don’t have to receive a subpoena,” Christian said. “But they have to make a diligent and honest effort to obtain it, which they have done if they believe the facts outlined here by the prosecutor’s office.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors asked the judge to schedule the trial for April 15 without further postponement.
“For over a year, the defendants have taken every step possible to avoid liability in this case,” Bragg’s office said in a court filing.
“He tried to prevent a grand jury from considering an indictment by promising ‘death and destruction’ if indicted. He brandished a baseball bat at the back of the district attorney’s head. “By posting photos of himself, he attempted to intimidate the district attorney and authorities. His defense attorney likewise exceeded the limits of his zealous defense in this case,” the complaint continued.
The new documents are related to the federal criminal case of Mr. Cohen, President Trump’s former fixer who made hush money payments at the center of the case, according to court records. Mr. Cohen has since rebelled against his former boss and is expected to become Mr. Bragg’s star trial witness.
Trump’s lawyers emphasized Cohen’s guilty plea in the case and portrayed him as a liar who misled the jury in their efforts to block him from testifying.
It remains unclear whether the document contains anything that Trump could use to his advantage, or how much new content it contains. Prosecutors said last week that the investigation was ongoing, but they had identified fewer than 270 relevant documents “so far” that had not been previously disclosed to Trump.
“Frankly, if the Brady material is out there, God help us all,” Agnifilo said, referring to prosecutors’ constitutional obligation to turn over material favorable to defendants.
“If there is any exculpatory information that they deliberately withheld, I doubt it. But I’m just wondering out loud what the possibilities are. It makes things even more It has the potential to drive you crazy.”
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