Manhattan DA will not oppose 30-day delay of Trump’s hush money trial after thousands of old records produced in Michael Cohen’s case
NEW YORK — The Manhattan district attorney’s office on Thursday said it would not oppose a 30-day delay of Donald Trump’s hush money trial related to porn star Stormy Daniels given the release of tens of thousands of previously sealed records in Michael Cohen’s old case.
Cohen, Trump’s longtime mouthpiece-turned-foe, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the hush money scheme in 2018 and an assortment of other crimes, receiving a three-year sentence and cementing his bitter feud with his longtime boss. He infamously implicated the then-president as “Individual-1” in his guilty plea, who he said directed him to silence women including Daniels who could damage his chances of winning the election.
Prosecutors in new court filings made public Thursday said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York had produced more than 73,000 documents in the case in response to a subpoena by Trump and were expected to provide more.
“(Although) the People are prepared to proceed to trial on March 25, we do not oppose an adjournment in an abundance of caution and to ensure that defendant has sufficient time to review the new materials. We therefore notify the Court that we do not oppose a brief adjournment not to exceed 30 days,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo wrote.
A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ office declined to comment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, carrying up to four years in prison. The charges allege that during Trump’s first year in the White House, he concealed a series of checks to his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a hush money payoff Cohen made to Daniels in 2017.
Prosecutors say Trump hid the reimbursement to Cohen to disguise a “catch and kill” conspiracy illegally orchestrated to secure his presidential victory in 2016.
Bragg’s office alleges the Daniels payment was part of a broader scheme that also saw the ex-CEO of American Media Inc., David Pecker, pay $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007 and a $30,000 payment to Trump Tower doorman who allegedly knew rumors about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.
Prosecutors say Trump logged the payback to Cohen as “legal expenses,” in violation of New York law, and that the underlying scheme broke state and federal election laws that prohibit candidates from running for public office through unlawful means.
Merchan is yet to rule on several outstanding motions ahead of the trial, including Trump’s eleventh-hour request to push it back until the Supreme Court rules on his presidential immunity claim. Prosecutors are expected to oppose it in court filings Friday.
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