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New York: Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money case say they are not opposed to a 30-day delay in the trial, currently set to begin on March 25, due to a recent disclosure of thousands of pages of documents by federal prosecutors.
A delay to the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president would mark another victory for Trump, who has sought to slow down proceedings in his various legal entanglements as the Republican candidate prepares to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election.
The hush money case in New York state court in Manhattan is currently slated to be the first of four criminal cases Trump faces to reach trial. While none of the other three cases have firm trial dates, any delay in the New York case could complicate scheduling the other cases.
In a court filing, prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said Trump had requested a 90-day delay to the trial because the Manhattan US Attorney’s office – which previously looked into the hush money case – in early March disclosed 73,000 pages of potentially relevant material.
“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 the defendant has sufficient time to review the new materials,” prosecutors wrote.
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Trump’s request was not immediately available. Any delay needs be approved by the judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover-up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she said they had a decade earlier, which he denied.
Earlier this week, Trump asked Merchan to delay the trial until the US Supreme Court finishes its review of his claim of presidential immunity in his federal criminal case over efforts to overthrow his 2020 election loss to Biden.
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