Trump scheduled for court appearance in hush money case hearing

The hearing regarding the delay of Donald Trump’s trial due to the sudden influx of numerous documents is expected to take place Monday in New York. The originally scheduled commencement date of the jury selection for Trump’s first of four criminal cases has been pushed to mid-April or beyond. Trump’s lawyers argue that the case should be dismissed or delayed for another three months due to the late disclosures, while prosecutors see little substantively new material in the documents and have no desire for further delay.

Manhattan prosecutors have charged former President Trump with false business records, claiming he did so in an effort to protect his campaign in 2016 by hiding false stories about extramarital sexual relations. Trump has denied the charges and claims that the allegations are fueled by political agendas, given that the case prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, belongs to the Democratic Party.

The case holds that Trump falsely recorded a payment of $130,000 to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, as legal fees in his company’s accounts to conceal his criminal activities. According to investigators, these payments were not for legal work but compensation to Cohen who paid porn actor Stormy Daniels on Trump’s behalf to avoid publicizing a sexual encounter claim with him. Trump’s lawyers state the payments to Cohen were valid legal expenses.

Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018, which includes campaign finance violations relating to the Daniels payoff. He claimed that Trump directed him to manage it, and federal prosecutors indicated they believed his confession, but no related charges were pressed against Trump. Currently, Cohen is a significant witness in the case against Trump in Manhattan.

The defense mentioned that the prosecution should have procured all the case documents, but instead chose not to, leading to Trump’s side having to subpoena federal prosecutors for the records. These documents are not open to the public, but Trump’s lawyers claim that they support the defense. Conversely, Bragg’s deputies have stated that they made a good faith effort to obtain relevant material from the federal investigation. Trump’s lawyers have also requested to postpone the trial until the Supreme Court rules on his claims of presidential immunity in the election interference case due on April 25.