(NEW YORK) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are seeking to delay the start of his New York hush money trial in order to allow them to review tens of thousands of pages of potential evidence recently disclosed by the Justice Department.
“[T]hirty days is not sufficient given the volume of recently produced materials and the nature of the ongoing disputes,” Trump attorney Todd Blanche said in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case. “Therefore, we respectfully request that the Court schedule a hearing on the pending discovery motion and the scheduling of a trial date, should one be necessary, at a time that is convenient to Your Honor during the week of March 25.”
Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.
On Thursday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office proposed a delay of up to 30 days to give the parties time to review newly disclosed material related to Cohen.
In seeking the delay, the defense also repeated its insistence that the indictment must be dismissed.
“The People’s consent to an adjournment of the trial is a necessary step towards a just resolution of these proceedings, but the Court must not permit that request to obscure the need to dismiss the Indictment as a whole, or at the very least, for inquiry and fact-finding into the circumstances that put Your Honor and President Trump in this position based on ongoing discovery violations,” the defense said
Jury selection for the trial is currently scheduled to get underway March 25 in New York City. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.
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