Judge Juan Merca is expected to set a trial start date at a hearing on Monday The hush money case in New York against the former president Donald Trump.
A hearing scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday follows the trial postponed until at least mid-April. The trial was originally scheduled to begin on Monday, but Merchan delayed the start date by 30 days after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a hush-hush case against Trump. said that he did not oppose Trump’s request for a delay.
But last week, Bragg’s office He urged Merchan not to postpone the trial any longerHe claims that it is less than 300 170,000 documents information handed over by federal prosecutors related to Trump’s criminal defense.
Trump’s lawyers blamed Bragg’s office for not obtaining the documents sooner and asked Merchand to deny the allegations. The DA’s office pushed back, calling the focus on the document’s release a “red herring.”
Merchan scheduled the hearing for Monday to discuss the preparation of documents in the case after Trump’s lawyers filed a motion on the matter. Merchan said at the time that he would set a new court date “if necessary” after ruling on Trump’s attorneys’ motion.
Trump is expected to appear in court on Monday.
The DA’s case alleges that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen falsified business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment to the adult film star. Stormy Daniels on his behalf ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Daniels he claimed In 2006, he had an affair with Trump after he was already married to his wife, Melania Trump.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and has denied sleeping with Daniels. However, he say he replaced Cohen.
Merchan last week He rejected Trump’s request to block Cohen and Daniels from testifying Hush money case. Trump’s lawyers argued in court last month that Cohen and Daniels should be barred from testifying because they are “liars.”
Cohen He pleaded guilty in 2018 to multiple criminal charges, including making secret payments to women who claimed to have ties to Trump, making false allegations to Congress about the then-president’s business ties to Russia, and failing to report millions of dollars in income.
The hush money affair is one of four charges Trump faces as he seeks another presidency. The hearing comes on the heels of a Monday deadline for Trump to pay more than $450 million in debts owed by New York Judge Arthur Engoro in a state civil fraud trial. Trump appealed the decision and threatened to challenge it “up to the US Supreme Court if necessary.”
Adam Reiss, Dareh Gregorian, Tom Winter, Lisa Rubin and Cat Corrigan contributed.