Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has filed a motion to delay President Trump's trial for up to 30 days on charges related to hush-money payments to stripper Stormy Daniels (aka Stephanie Clifford). Jury selection in the case was scheduled to begin March 25. Bragg indicted Trump last April on 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. Each count includes Maximum sentence: 4 years.
File screen image.
Bragg said the U.S. attorney's office just turned over about 31,000 pages of documents to the defense and prosecution on Wednesday and said it could take up to a month to review the documents. Mr. Bragg blamed Mr. Trump for the delay.
The defendants have filed motions for a stay or dismissal based on allegations of discovery violations and the production of approximately 73,000 pages of records from March 4, 2024 by the U.S. Attorney's Office to begin the trial. They are asking for a 90-day postponement. These records were produced in response to defendant's January 18, 2024 subpoena to the agency. The people's opposition to defendant's motion is currently scheduled to be filed by tomorrow, March 15th. The People's Opposition plans to explain in detail the Company's full compliance with Section 245 through the discovery process in this case.
We filed this notice in advance of that challenge to notify the court of additional developments yesterday after the defendants filed their motion and the public filed our one-page letter response. did.Specifically, yesterday USAO released approximately 31,000 pages of
He said he plans to create additional records and re-document by next week. Based on our initial review of yesterday's production, those records are relevant to the subject matter of this litigation, including material that the public requested from USAO more than a year ago and that USAO previously refused to provide. It appears that it contains material to do so. These developments do not affect National's compliance with all his obligations under Article 245 and certainly do not justify his dismissal, and National is prepared to face his March 25 trial. is completed. Nevertheless, in view of the unique circumstances described below, the public does not object to the submission of the brief. An adjournment of up to 30 days will be granted to allow the defendant sufficient time to review her USAO work.Regarding the 73,000 pages of records produced by USAO as of the date of defendant's complaint, the People's initial review found that, with the exception of approximately 172 pages of witness statements testified by defendant, these materials had little relevance to the subject matter of this case. It showed that there is. Please allow sufficient time to consider and address the matter before trial. But yesterday afternoon, the USAO also indicated that it had produced approximately 31,000 additional pages of records for both the public and the defense in response to the defendants' subpoenas, and that it plans to produce more by next week.
We note that the timing of the current production of additional materials from USAO is a function of defendants' own delays. The People passionately sought the full grand jury records related to Cohen's campaign financing conviction from the USAO last year, including the acquittal.
Materials and (1) Grand Jury Minutes and Tapes. (2) witness lists and other documents identifying the names or identities of grand jury witnesses; (3) grand jury subpoenas and documents returned pursuant to those subpoenas; (4) Exhibits submitted to grand jury. (5) A summary of any witness examinations conducted outside the grand jury within the scope of Rule 6(e). (6) Within the scope of Rule 6(e), search warrant affidavits or other applications containing evidence from grand juries and evidence seized pursuant to those warrants. In response, USAO produced a subset of the materials we requested, which he timely and fully disclosed to Defendants on June 8, 2023, more than nine months ago. Despite having access to these materials since June, Defendants did not raise concerns with the public about whether our efforts to obtain materials from USAO were sufficient prior to last week. Instead, Defendants waited until January 18, 2024 to subpoena additional materials from USAO, and then agreed to repeatedly extend USAO's decision deadline. The timing of USAO's production was solely the result of the defendant's delay despite the public's enthusiasm.Despite this, the Nation is prepared to proceed to trial on March 25th, but out of an abundance of caution and to ensure that the defendant has sufficient time to consider new material, we have postponed the trial. I don't object. We therefore inform the Court that we do not object to a short adjournment not exceeding 30 days, notwithstanding that the Citizen has complied with all obligations under Article 245. Also, for the sake of the people, he requests an extension from Friday, March 15th until Monday, March 18th. File the Company's complete response to the Defendant's discovery motion and allow the Company to fully address any developments in the intervention after the date of the Defendant's motion. We are filing this notice prior to filing any counter-motions to the defendant's motion in order to inform the court of yesterday's developments as soon as possible so that the court can consider how to proceed. If requested by the court, we will respond to an interview with the court.
Excerpt from Bragg's press release The charges against Trump were announced on April 4, 2023.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. today accused Donald J. Trump of falsifying New York business records in an attempt to conceal harmful information and illegal activities from American voters before and after the 2016 election. (76 years old) was indicted. During the election, Trump and others employed a „catch-and-kill“ plan to identify, buy, and conceal negative information about him to improve his chances of winning. Trump then went to great lengths to cover up this conduct, making dozens of false entries in his business records to cover up his criminal conduct, including attempts to violate state and federal election laws.
Trump has been indicted in New York State Supreme Court on 34 counts of first-degree falsification of business records. ()
„The people of New York state allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal a crime in which he withheld information harmful to voters during the 2016 presidential election,“ Bragg said. the district attorney said. „Manhattan is home to the most important business market in this country. We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate records to cover up criminal activity. As the statement of facts explains, money and lies… People alleges that the traces reveal a pattern of violations of one of New York's basic and fundamental business laws.As this firm has repeatedly done, I. Today, we uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that all people are equal before the law.”
According to court documents and statements made on the court record, Mr. Trump orchestrated a „catch-and-kill“ scheme through a series of payments from August 2015 to December 2017, followed by months of false statements. The payments were concealed through business reports.
…In a third case, 12 days before the presidential election, the special counsel wired $130,000 to an adult film actress' attorney. The special counsel has since pleaded guilty and is serving time in prison for making illegal campaign contributions, which she made through a shell company funded through a Manhattan bank.
After winning the election, Trump repaid the special counsel through a series of monthly checks. The money was paid back first from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust (created in New York to hold assets of the Trump Organization during Trump's presidency) and later from Trump's bank accounts. A total of 11 checks were issued for bogus purposes. Nine of those checks had Mr. Trump's signature. Each check was processed by the Trump Organization and illegally disguised as payment for legal services provided pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement. A total of 34 false entries were made in New York business records to hide his $130,000 payment for the first secret. In addition, participants in the scheme took steps to misrecognize the nature of redemptions for tax purposes.