Manhattan D.A. Says Trump Hush Money Case Should Go Forward in April – The New York Times
Trump Hush-Money Case
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A week after agreeing to a brief delay, Manhattan’s district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, said his office’s criminal prosecution of Donald J. Trump should begin April 15 as scheduled.
Jesse McKinley and
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said in court papers Thursday that a large cache of newly disclosed documents contained little that might influence or delay the criminal trial of Donald J. Trump, which is scheduled to begin in mid-April.
In a surprising move, the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, agreed last week to allow a short delay in the trial to give Mr. Trump’s lawyers time to review the records. The documents had been turned over by federal prosecutors who had previously investigated Michael Cohen, the former president’s longtime fixer who is expected to be a key witness in Mr. Bragg’s prosecution.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers had cast the documents as a potential game-changing development in the intensely litigated case, which had been set to go to trial on March 25. But in Thursday’s filing, Mr. Bragg’s office downplayed the documents’ import, though it said its review was continuing.
“The people now have good reason to believe that this production contains only limited materials relevant to the subject matter of this case and that have not previously been disclosed to defendant,” the office said in the filing, adding: “The overwhelming majority of the production is entirely immaterial, duplicative or substantially duplicative of previously disclosed materials.”
It said that the trial’s currently scheduled start date — now set for April 15 — provides “a more than reasonable amount of time for defendant to review the information provided.”
Mr. Trump’s lawyers have asked the judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, to dismiss the charges entirely or delay the trial until the summer and sanction the district attorney. A hearing before Justice Merchan is scheduled for Monday.
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