In a surprising move, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has proposed to postpone the trial of former President Donald Trump. This decision comes just days before the trial was set to commence. The trial, focusing on a “hush money” case, was originally scheduled for March 25.
In January, Trump’s legal team had subpoenaed the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. On March 4, the office handed over a substantial amount of documents, totaling over 73,000 pages. More documents were provided on Wednesday, as mentioned in Bragg’s legal filing.
Bragg disclosed that on the previous day, around 31,000 pages of additional records were received. He noted that these documents included information his office had sought for over a year. According to Bragg, these records seem to contain relevant materials for the case.
It was mentioned that the U.S. Attorney’s office had initially refused to share these materials. Consequently, Trump’s lawyers requested a delay of 90 days or for the case to be dismissed.
Bragg expressed that although his team was ready to proceed with the trial on March 25, they would not oppose a short postponement. This decision was made to give the defendant ample time to review the new materials. Bragg suggested a delay not exceeding 30 days.
An attorney representing Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. These charges are connected to payments made to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to an adult film star.
On March 8, Trump’s legal team filed a document accusing Bragg’s office of obstructing their attempts to obtain materials from the Southern District of New York’s U.S. Attorney. The documents eventually turned over included bank records, emails related to Cohen, and information from two iPhones and three email accounts owned by Cohen.