NEW YORK, United States: Prosecutors in a case involving former US president Donald Trump in New York for allegedly covering up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels have said they would accept a delay of up to 30 days after both sides received a deluge of case documents, court filings showed.
Trump’s lawyers had previously sought a delay to the March 25 start of the criminal trial, the first ever of a former US president. Trump, again the Republican candidate for 2024 election, is accused of covering up hush money payments related to his successful 2016 bid for the White House.
The former US president faces 34 counts of accounting fraud, which include transactions linked to payments to the porn star to bury stories about Trump’s alleged extramarital sexual relations with her.
“(Prosecutors) do not oppose a brief adjournment of up to 30 days to permit sufficient time for defendant to review the US Attorney’s Office (documents),” the Manhattan District Attorney said in its court submission.
“Yesterday afternoon… the USAO produced approximately 31,000 pages of additional records to both the People and the defense in response to defendant’s subpoena, and also indicated that an additional production would follow by next week.”
Election rematch
Prosecutors say Trump illegally concealed payments to longtime aide Michael Cohen, paying them to cover up reports of Trump’s extramarital sex with Daniels and a Playboy model. He claims to have made up for it. Trump denies the allegations.
A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 for making payments to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
President Trump called this process “shameful”.
“It’s a rigged state. It’s a rigged city. It’s a shame,” he said previously.
President Trump is facing four felony charges in his bid to retake the White House, but his lawyers have so far failed to delay the actual trial until after the Nov. 5 vote.
President Trump, who is using his legal status to rally his supporters and criticize Democratic rival Joe Biden, said the allegations are are “just a way of hurting me in the election.”
Biden and Trump each won enough delegates on Tuesday to clinch their party’s 2024 presidential nomination, all but ensuring a rematch and one of the longest contests in US history.
