Former President Donald Trump has been in the trial in the New York hush-money case and it has now been delayed until the middle of April as per Judge Juan Merchan on Friday via NBC News.
Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty.
Merchan has stated that the trial which was originally scheduled to begin March 25 has been pushed back 30 days from Friday.
It has been noted that he also scheduled a hearing for the trial’s initial start date, to discuss a motion filed by Trump’s attorneys regarding document production in the case.
Merchan said he will set a new trial date “if necessary” when he rules on that motion, meaning it’s possible the trial proceedings could be delayed beyond the middle of next month.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had previously stated he would support the trial being delayed at least 30 days, into late April. Trump’s legal team requested that it be postponed 90 days.
Documents have emerged that relate to Michael Cohen’s guilty plea in 2018 to numerous criminal charges, including making secret payments to women who claimed they had affairs with Trump, lying to Congress about Trump’s business dealings with Russia and failing to report millions of dollars in income.
Merchan told Trump’s lawyers and Bragg’s office to provide him with a “detailed timeline of the events surrounding the requests for ultimate production of documents” which served “as the basis” of Bragg’s Thursday letter, where he said his office does not oppose a 30-day trial delay.
The judge said the timeline, due Thursday, should include subpoenas, emails, notes and messages in order for “this Court to properly asses who, if anyone, is at fault for the late production of the documents, what prejudice, if any, was suffered by either party and what sanction(s) if any, are appropriate.”
Bragg’s office brought the case against Trump, accusing the former president of falsifying business records related to Cohen’s $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.
