Former President Donald Trump's campaign said Friday that his New York trial over alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels shouldn't be delayed but dismissed.
The campaign also said Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg conceded his office committed violations. Bragg did not object to a 30-day delay to the trial, which was set to begin with jury selection March 25.
Trump pleaded not guilty in April 2023 to a 34-count felony indictment that accuses him of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment made by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels before the 2016 election. Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels and of any wrongdoing in the case.
"President Trump and his counsel have been consistent and steadfast that this case has no basis in law or fact, and should be dismissed," Steven Cheung, communications director for the Trump campaign, said Friday in a statement on the campaign website.
In the wake of more than 100,000 pages of records released this month by federal prosecutors, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Friday ordered a 30-day delay in the trial, meaning what would be the first criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president will be pushed back until at least mid-April.
Merchan also will hold a pretrial hearing March 25 to discuss a dispute over the evidence and a motion from Trump's attorneys seeking to throw out the case or bar testimony from key witnesses, The Washington Post reported.
"Today, after the Manhattan DA conceded violations by his office, the judge, in adjourning the trial, ordered a hearing to hold DA Bragg accountable for misconduct," Cheung said. "We will continue to fight to end this hoax, and all of the other Crooked Joe Biden-directed Witch Hunts, once and for all."
Bragg did not concede any violations in a motion he filed Thursday indicating he was not opposed to a 30-day delay. Trump's attorneys had requested a 90-day delay.
Bragg said in his motion that many of the 73,000 pages of documents released by federal prosecutors March 4 "were largely irrelevant" to the case, except for "approximately 172 pages of witness statements that defendant would have adequate time to review and address before trial."
But he said 31,000 pages released by the U.S. attorney's office Wednesday "appear to contain materials related to the subject matter of this case, including materials that the People requested from [federal prosecutors] more than a year ago and that [federal prosecutors] previously declined to provide." He mentioned even more records would be released, and on Friday, the Post reported Bragg was soon to receive 15,000 pages of records from the U.S. attorney's office.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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