Trump loses bid to throw out Mar-a-Lago charges as hush money case faces delay: Live – The Independent

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Hearing at Fort Pierce, Florida courthouse examined two motions to dismiss Trump’s classified documents case, while new evidence to be reviewed in hush-money case
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has asked the judge overseeing the hush-money case against Donald Trump for a 30-day delay in the trial – just 11 days before jury selection was to begin.
On Thursday, Mr Bragg asked Judge Juan Merchan to push back the trial so prosecutors could review approximately 31,000 pages of additional records submitted on Wednesday.
“Based on our initial review of yesterday’s production, those records appear to contain materials related to the subject matter of this case, including materials that the People requested from the USAO more than a year ago and that the USAO previously declined to provide,” Mr Bragg wrote.
Meanwhile, the former president was at court in Fort Pierce, Florida today fighting to have the criminal case into his alleged mishandling of classified documents thrown out.
Judge Aileen Cannon appeared sceptical about the defence arguments suggesting they were more appropriate questions for a jury. She promised to rule promptly and did so in one motion.
In other legal news, Mr Trump scored a minor win in his Georgia election interference case when Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee threw out a handful of charges from the original indictment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has asked the judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump to delay the trial by as much as 30 days – just two weeks before it is set to occur.
On Thursday, Mr Bragg asked a judge to push back the trial so prosecutors could review approximately 31,000 pages of records that were submitted by the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) on Wednesday.
Those records, which Mr Bragg said were requested more than a year ago, are related to a federal investigation into Michael Cohen – whose testimony Mr Bragg used to build the case in which he is accusing Mr Trump of falsifying business records.
Mr Bragg said that while most of the filings are unrelated to the case, he noted approximately 172 pages of witness statements could be relevant. He added that prosecutors are prepared to go to trial as expected on 25 March and find no merit for dismissal but “do not oppose a brief adjournment of up to 30 days”.
Continue reading:
Alvin Bragg says Trump’s team is ‘solely’ responsible for delays after document dump days before trial
Bill Maher has offered former president Donald Trump some advice for how to pay his mounting legal bills: join OnlyFans.
Mr Trump, who is currently embroiled in several criminal and civil cases, currently owes at least $587m in legal penalties.
Martha McHardy has the story:
Mr Trump currently owes at least $587m from multiple civil and criminal cases
Donald Trump once again repeated his unsupported claim that Hillary Clinton used “all sorts of acid testing and everything else” to delete emails that were stored on her work server. The former president made the issue central to the 2016 presidential election, which saw him beat his Democratic rival and former US secretary of state to the White House. Eight years later, Mr Trump repeated the claims during an interview with Newsmax. “What she did was unbelievable, and nothing happens to her,” Mr Trump said this week. After a years-long FBI investigation, it was determined that Ms Clinton’s server did not contain any information or emails that were clearly marked classified.
A Florida man charged with interfering with police during the Jan. 6, 2021, siege at the U.S. Capitol is connected to a “network” of supporters who have helped other Capitol riot defendants avoid capture by the FBI, prosecutors said in a court filing this week.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered Thomas Paul Osborne to be released from a Florida jail while he awaits trial on charges that he grabbed a police officer’s baton during a mob’s attack on the Capitol. Before the judge ruled, a Justice Department prosecutor argued that Osborne poses a risk of fleeing after his Feb. 22 arrest.
Osborne harbored a Jan. 6 defendant, Christopher Worrell, who disappeared last year after he was convicted of assaulting police with pepper spray during the Capitol riot, prosecutors said. They believe Worrell, a member of the Proud Boys extremist group, lived at Osborne’s home in Lakeland, Florida, for roughly six weeks while on the run.
Prosecutors also cited Osborne’s ties to the family of Jonathan Pollock and Olivia Pollock — a brother and sister from Lakeland who were declared fugitives after getting charged with Capitol riot-related crimes. Osborne traveled to Washington, D.C., with the Pollocks and their parents to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6.
In January 2024, FBI agents arrested the Pollocks and a third fugitive, Joseph Hutchinson, at a ranch in Groveland, Florida. Jonathan Pollock had remained at large for over two years. Olivia Pollock and Hutchinson were on the run for approximately 10 months after tampering with their court-ordered GPS monitoring devices.
Continue reading the full article…
Despite his legal strategy in his criminal cases being to delay everything as long as possible, the former president said on Truth Social tonight:
The things that took place at the Manhattan D.A.’s office, in conjunction with people from the DOJ put in charge of “getting TRUMP,” are truly a sight to behold. They illegally withheld thousands of pages of documents. Then you have the really shady “Pomerantz” issue, and wow, people have never seen anything like this one. This will make Fani and her “lover” look like small potatoes!!!
Mr Trump’s own legal team had previously tried to delay the case until after the Supreme Court ruled on immunity — a longer period of time than Alvin Bragg is suggesting…
Earlier, his campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, said:
President Trump and his counsel have been consistent and steadfast that this case has no basis in law or fact, and should be dismissed. Today, after conceding serious discovery violations by his office, the Manhattan DA agreed to an adjournment. We will continue to fight to end this Hoax, and all of the other Crooked Joe Biden-directed Witch Hunts, once and for all.
Here’s Ariana Baio’s report from earlier today:
Alvin Bragg says Trump’s team is ‘solely’ responsible for delays after document dump days before trial
Bill Maher has offered former president Donald Trump some advice for how to pay his mounting legal bills: join OnlyFans.
Mr Trump, who is currently embroiled in several criminal and civil cases, currently owes at least $587m in legal penalties.
Martha McHardy has the story:
Mr Trump currently owes at least $587m from multiple civil and criminal cases
Donald Trump keeps pointing to the Presidential Records Act (PRA) to argue that he has done nothing wrong in the classified documents case, but what does the legislation say?
Gustaf Kilander explains:
Trump has ‘never been able to explain how the PRA trumps laws about handling classified and national defence [information]. It doesn’t,’ former US attorney says
Alex Woodward reports:
A federal judge appointed to the bench by Donald Trump appeared sceptical of his attorney’s arguments to throw out criminal charges stemming from his retention of classified documents stashed at his Mar-a-Lago property.
The former president joined his attorneys inside a federal courthouse in Florida for a hearing on two motions to dismiss the case, arguing that charges against him under the Espionage Age are unconstitutionally “vague” and that the Presidential Records Act protects him from prosecution.
US District Judge Aileen Cannon repeatedly appeared to cast doubt on the heart of Mr Trump’s arguments but did not immediately reach a decision after the hearing in Fort Pierce on Thursday.
Continue reading…
Judge Aileen Cannon appeared sceptical of two arguments from Trump attorneys to dismiss Mar-a-Lago case
Alex Woodward reports:
A federal judge appointed to the bench by Donald Trump has rejected one of his attempts to dismiss criminal charges stemming from his retention of classified documents stashed at his Mar-a-Lago property.
After arguments in a federal courtroom in Florida on Thursday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed his lawyers’ arguments that charges against the former president under the Espionage Age are unconstitutionally “vague”.
The resolution of the defence’s question “depends too greatly on contested instructional questions about still-fluctuating definitions of statutory terms/phrases as charged, along with at least some disputed factual issues as raised in the motion,” she wrote.
Continue reading the full story…
Judge Aileen Cannon dismisses Trump’s claim that the Espionage Act is ‘unconstitutionally vague’
Having promised a prompt ruling on Donald Trump’s motions to dismiss the federal classified documents case brought against him by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Judge Aileen Cannon denied the first motion just over an hour after the hearing ended.
The judge denied the motion concerning “unconstitutional vagueness” over the laws on which the charges brought against the former president were based.
Mr Trump’s complaint concerned the statutory phrases “unauthorized possession,” “relating to the national defense,” and “entitled to receive” saying they are unconstitutionally vague as applied under the facts presented, in violation of due process and the rule of lenity.
Judge Cannon writes:
“Although the motion raises various arguments warranting serious consideration, the Court ultimately determines, following lengthy oral argument, that resolution of the overall question presented depends too greatly on contested instructional questions about still-fluctuating definitions of statutory terms/phrases as charged, along with at least some disputed factual issues as raised in the Motion. For that reason, rather than prematurely decide now whether application of 18 U.S.C. § 793(e) in these circumstances yields unsalvageable vagueness despite the asserted judicial glosses, the Court elects to deny the Motion without prejudice, to be raised as appropriate in connection with jury-instruction briefing and/or other appropriate motions.”
Read Judge Cannon’s ruling here…
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Donald Trump is expected to attend Thursday’s hearing
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