Donald Trump found a problem on Friday with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s proposed delay in the criminal trial against the former president.
On Friday, lawyers for Trump sent a letter to New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan regarding Trump’s criminal case in New York City over alleged hush-money payments made to former adult-film star Stormy Daniels and other charges accusing him of filing fraudulent business records.
“We note that a 30-day adjournment would move the start of the trial from March 25 to April 24, which would conflict with Passover, which this year is from April 22 to April 30,” Trump’s lawyers said in a footnote of a letter sent to Merchan. “The Court cannot schedule the trial in a timeframe that would prevent or inhibit the ability of observant Jews to participate as jurors.”
“We also note that President Trump’s trial in the Southern District of Florida is still scheduled to begin on May 20, 2024, even though President Trump has requested that the date be adjourned, and the Court has indicated an adjournment is appropriate,” Trump’s lawyers added.
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The letter sent on Friday comes shortly after Bragg filed a court document this week saying that while his office is ready to begin the trial on its originally scheduled date of March 25, it would be open to considering a delay of up to 30 days.
Trump, who is facing three other criminal indictments while also running for a second term in the White House, had asked to postpone the trial for 90 days.
In April, Bragg’s office filed a 34-count felony indictment against Trump, alleging that the former president “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.”
Trump has continued to deny any wrongdoing in the case brought by Bragg, while also repeatedly criticizing the Manhattan district attorney.
“It is the District Attorney of Manhattan who is breaking the law by using the fake and fully discredited testimony (even by the SDNY [Southern District of New York]!) of a convicted liar, felon and jailbird Michael Cohen, to incredibly persecute, prosecute, and indict a former president, and now leading (by far!) presidential candidate, for a crime that doesn’t exist,” Trump wrote in a TruthSocial post last year.
“Alvin Bragg should be held accountable for the crime of interference in a presidential election.”
Bragg’s office last month sought to enforce a gag order against Trump, saying the former president “has a long history of making public and inflammatory remarks about the participants in various judicial proceedings against him, including jurors, witnesses, lawyers, and court staff.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s spokesperson via email for comment on Friday.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.