Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has agreed to a one-month delay of the criminal hush money trial of former President Donald Trump, which is set to start on March 25. This decision comes after federal prosecutors turned over 31,000 pages of records related to the case to Bragg’s office and Trump’s lawyers.
The delay is intended to give Trump’s attorneys sufficient time to review the new materials. Bragg noted that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan had previously declined to provide certain materials that were requested more than a year ago but have now been turned over. This move is seen as an “abundance of caution” to ensure that Trump has sufficient time to review the new materials.
Trump’s lawyers had previously asked for a 90-day delay or the dismissal of the case, arguing that federal prosecutors in early March provided an incomplete tranche of 73,000 pages of records related to Cohen. They accused the prosecutors of obstructing their access to these materials. However, Bragg’s office insists that they complied with their obligations and that the delay is to ensure a fair trial.
The hush money trial involves charges that Trump falsified business records in connection with a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. This payment was intended to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts and is facing four criminal prosecutions as he prepares to run against President Joe Biden in November’s presidential election.
The trial is expected to last about six weeks and is the first criminal trial against a former or sitting president. The fact of the payments and the false records is not in dispute, but Bragg has to prove that Trump made them to further other crimes, such as violating campaign finance law and mischaracterizing the payments for tax purposes 3.
This development comes less than two weeks before the scheduled start of the trial, which was set to begin on March 25. The trial is expected to last about six weeks, and the decision to delay it could have ramifications for other trials Trump is facing, including those related to his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, his handling of classified documents, and alleged election interference in Georgia.
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