He is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a potential sex scandal.
NEW YORK — Donald Trump will face his first criminal trial on April 15, the judge overseeing the former president’s hush money case ruled Monday after having allowed a several-week delay so Trump’s lawyers could review last-minute documents relevant to the case.
The Manhattan trial, over a payment Trump authorized in the final weeks of the 2016 election to silence porn star Stormy Daniels’ claims of a sexual encounter with him, had been set to start March 25. But after federal prosecutors handed over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to the case in recent weeks, Justice Juan Merchan agreed earlier this month to postpone the start of proceedings.
In court filings, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to a 30-day delay, while Trump’s lawyers pushed for at least 90 days and sought to have the case dismissed entirely.
Bragg is a local prosecutor, and his federal counterparts in Manhattan have material that is potentially relevant to Bragg’s case because they investigated the hush money payment in 2018 and ultimately charged Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Cohen made the payment to the porn star, Stormy Daniels, and was subsequently reimbursed by Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in connection with the payment, and he is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution in Trump’s upcoming trial.
Bragg, who charged Trump nearly a year ago, alleges that Trump repeatedly falsified business records connected to the hush money payment, disguising it in the Trump Organization’s books as legal expenses. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of violating a state law on corporate recordkeeping fraud.
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Trump’s first criminal trial is now set for April 15 https://t.co/70oEkNAhe1
— POLITICO (@politico) March 25, 2024
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