New York prosecutors have requested a judge to commence Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial on April 15, dismissing the defense's claims for further delays or dismissal of the case due to a recent evidence disclosure as a 'red herring.' Prosecutors stated that the majority of the records provided to Trump's lawyers, over 100,000 pages from a prior federal investigation, were either immaterial, duplicative, or substantially duplicative of evidence already in their possession.
Out of 31,000 documents in one batch, only a small fraction were deemed relevant to Trump's case and had not been previously shared with his legal team. The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan completed the evidence handover to Trump's lawyers on March 15.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last year, is accused of concealing arrangements to suppress damaging stories during his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors criticized Trump's defense team for attempting to avoid accountability through what they termed as 'meritless discovery arguments.'
Since Trump's indictment a year ago, approximately 10 million pages of evidence, including grand jury minutes, bank records, witness statements, cell phone data, and records from the Trump Organization, have been shared with his lawyers.
The trial, initially set to begin on Monday, was postponed by Judge Juan M. Merchan until mid-April due to concerns raised by Trump's lawyers regarding the late arrival of evidence from a 2018 federal investigation involving Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen.
The hush money case revolves around allegations that Trump sought to conceal payments to Cohen, who paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to silence her claims of an extramarital encounter with Trump. Trump has denied these allegations, with his legal team arguing that the payments were legitimate legal expenses.
Trump's lawyers have requested a 90-day delay and also urged the judge to dismiss the case, citing prosecutorial misconduct due to late evidence disclosures. Prosecutors have refuted these claims, stating that the evidence-sharing rules apply only to material in their possession and blaming Trump's legal team for the time constraints.
The defense has also sought a trial delay until after the Supreme Court rules on Trump's presidential immunity claims, which they believe could impact the hush money case. Cohen, who has turned against Trump and is set to testify against him, pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other charges in 2018.
Federal prosecutors did not pursue charges against Trump directly, citing the Justice Department's stance that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The investigation was not revived after Trump left office following his defeat in the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
