Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has accused Donald Trump’s attorneys of stalling their request for Department of Justice (DOJ) documents so that the Stormy Daniels trial will be delayed.
However, Bragg’s office conceded on Thursday that it is willing to delay the start of the Trump trial by 30 days so that the former president’s lawyers can read over newly disclosed documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the prosecution section of the DOJ.
“We note that the timing of the current production of additional materials from the USAO [U.S Attorney’s Office] is a function of defendant’s own delay,” the DA’s office stated in a court filing. “Defendant waited until January 18, 2024 to subpoena additional materials from the USAO and then consented to repeated extensions of the deadline for the USAO’s determination.”
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As Trump’s delay request is not opposed by Bragg’s office, it will likely be granted by the judge in the Stormy Daniels case.
That would push the start of the trial to late April and Trump’s lawyers are seeking more DOJ documents in the case, which could cause further delays.
DOJ special counsel Jack Smith has repeatedly accused Trump of trying to delay his criminal trials until after the presidential election.
Newsweek sought email comment from Donald Trump’s attorney on Friday.
Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, told Newsweek that it is looking less likely that there will be any Trump criminal trial in 2024.
“Without attributing motives, it does appear that, inch by inch, the criminal justice system is making any 2024 trial less and less likely. Trump’s lawyers just have to get to Labor Day [September 2] and then nothing will happen until 2025, if then,” Gillers said.
Trump’s Stormy Daniels trial was set to begin March 25, as the former president is accused of making hush-money payments to adult film star Stephanie Clifford, better known by the stage name Stormy Daniels, during his 2016 presidential campaign. But Bragg said on Thursday that while his office is “prepared to proceed to trial” as scheduled, his office wouldn’t oppose a delay of up to 30 days.
Trump is facing up to 34 felony charges regarding the alleged falsification of business records and concealing hush-money payments to Daniels during his first presidential campaign. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In a three-page filing on Thursday, Bragg said that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has produced about 73,000 pages of records. Bragg’s office states in court filings that only about 172 pages of witness statements are relevant to Trump’s case.
Another 31,000 pages of additional documents were made available by federal prosecutors on Wednesday, according to Bragg’s filing. The records are related to federal prosecutors’ 2018 investigations of the hush-money payments at the center of Trump’s, which eventually brought charges against the ex-president’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen.
Trump’s lawyers are hoping to use the records to discredit Cohen’s upcoming testimony in the Daniels trial.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.