Judge sets April 15 trial date in Trump's New York hush money case
A New York judge has scheduled an April 15 trial date in former President Donald Trump's hush money case.
Judge Juan M. Merchan made the ruling Monday. The judge earlier had scolded the former president바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers as he weighed when to reschedule the trial after a last-minute document dump caused a postponement of the original date.
Merchan had bristled at what he suggested were baseless defense claims of 바카라 게임 웹사이트prosecutorial misconduct,바카라 게임 웹사이트 appearing unpersuaded by Trump team arguments that prosecutors had until recently concealed tens of thousands of pages of records from a previous federal investigation.
Prosecutors say only a handful of those newly records is relevant to the case, while defense lawyers contend that thousands of pages are potentially important and require a painstaking review. Merchan, who earlier this month postponed the trial until at least mid-April, told defense lawyers that they should have acted much sooner if they believed they didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t have all the records they felt they were entitled to.
바카라 게임 웹사이트That you don바카라 게임 웹사이트t have a case right now is really disconcerting because the allegation that the defense makes in all of your papers is incredibly serious. Unbelievably serious,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Merchan said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트You바카라 게임 웹사이트re accusing the Manhattan district attorney바카라 게임 웹사이트s office and the people involved in this case of prosecutorial misconduct and of trying to make me complicit in it. And you don바카라 게임 웹사이트t have a single cite to support that position.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee arrived in court for a hearing scheduled in place of the long-planned start of jury selection in the first of his four criminal cases to go to trial. It took place on a uniquely consequential day for Trump and his legal and political affairs as, besides a likely determination of a trial date, a New York appeals court on Monday granted him a dose of good news by agreeing to hold off collection of his $454 million civil fraud judgment 바카라 게임 웹사이트 if he puts up $175 million within 10 days.
The hush money case, filed last year by prosecutors in Manhattan, has taken on added importance given that it바카라 게임 웹사이트s the only one of the prosecutions against Trump that appears likely for trial in the coming months. The simmering documents dispute 바카라 게임 웹사이트 arising from a tranche of records relating to a 2018 federal investigation into the same issues 바카라 게임 웹사이트 is significant to the extent it results in a meaningful delay to the trial, which centers on years-old allegations that Trump arranged a payment to a porn actor during his 2016 presidential campaign to suppress claims of an extramarital affair.
The district attorney바카라 게임 웹사이트s office said there was little new material in the trove and no reason for further delay, with prosecutor Matthew Colangelo saying in court Monday that the number of relevant, usable, new documents 바카라 게임 웹사이트is quite small바카라 게임 웹사이트 바카라 게임 웹사이트 around 300 records or fewer.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We very much disagree,바카라 게임 웹사이트 countered defense lawyer Todd Blanche, who said the number totaled in the thousands and continues to grow. Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers argue that the delayed disclosures warrant dismissing the case or at least pushing it off three months.
바카라 게임 웹사이트We바카라 게임 웹사이트re not doing our jobs if we don바카라 게임 웹사이트t independently review the materials,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Blanche said. 바카라 게임 웹사이트Every document is important.바카라 게임 웹사이트
But Merchan seemed unmoved, asking Blanche why the defense team, which subpoenaed for the records in January, didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t bring up concerns about potentially missing documents weeks earlier.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Why did you wait until two months before trial? Why didn바카라 게임 웹사이트t you do it in June or July,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Merchan said.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he falsified business records. Manhattan prosecutors say Trump did it as part of an effort to protect his 2016 campaign by burying what he says were false stories of extramarital sex. Trump on Monday repeated to reporters his claims that the case is a 바카라 게임 웹사이트witch hunt바카라 게임 웹사이트 and 바카라 게임 웹사이트hoax.바카라 게임 웹사이트 The prosecutor overseeing the case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is a Democrat.
The case centers on allegations that Trump falsely logged $130,000 in payments as legal fees in his company바카라 게임 웹사이트s books 바카라 게임 웹사이트to disguise his and others바카라 게임 웹사이트 criminal conduct,바카라 게임 웹사이트 as Bragg바카라 게임 웹사이트s deputies put it in a court document.
The money went to Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen, but prosecutors say it wasn바카라 게임 웹사이트t for actual legal work. Rather, they say, Cohen was just recouping money he바카라 게임 웹사이트d paid porn actor Stormy Daniels on Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s behalf, so she wouldn바카라 게임 웹사이트t publicize her claim of a sexual encounter with him years earlier.
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers say the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses, not cover-up checks.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges, including campaign finance violations related to the Daniels payoff. He said Trump directed him to arrange it, and federal prosecutors indicated they believed him, but they never charged Trump with any crime related to the matter.
Cohen is now a key witness in Manhattan prosecutors바카라 게임 웹사이트 case against Trump.
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers have said Bragg바카라 게임 웹사이트s office, in June, gave them a smidgen of materials from the federal investigation into Cohen. Then they got over 100,000 pages more after subpoenaing federal prosecutors themselves in January. The defense argues that prosecutors should have pursued all the records but instead stuck their heads in the sand, hoping to keep information from Trump.
The material hasn바카라 게임 웹사이트t been made public. But Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers said in a court filing that some of it is 바카라 게임 웹사이트exculpatory and favorable to the defense,바카라 게임 웹사이트 adding that there바카라 게임 웹사이트s information that would have aided their own investigation and consequential legal filings earlier in the case.
Bragg바카라 게임 웹사이트s deputies have insisted they 바카라 게임 웹사이트engaged in good-faith and diligent efforts to obtain relevant information바카라 게임 웹사이트 from the federal probe. They argued in court filings that Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers should have spoken up earlier if they believed those efforts were lacking.
Prosecutors maintain that, in any event, the vast majority of what ultimately came is irrelevant, duplicative or backs up existing evidence about Cohen바카라 게임 웹사이트s well-known federal conviction. They acknowledged in a court filing that there was some relevant new material, including 172 pages of notes recording Cohen바카라 게임 웹사이트s meetings with the office of former special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russia바카라 게임 웹사이트s 2016 election interference.
Prosecutors argued that their adversaries have enough time to work with the relevant material before a mid-April trial date and are just raising a 바카라 게임 웹사이트red herring.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers also have sought to delay the trial until after the Supreme Court rules on his claims of presidential immunity in his election interference case in Washington. The high court is set to hear arguments April 25.