NEW YORK (Reuters) -Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s hush money case said on Thursday they were not opposed to a 30-day delay in the trial, currently set to begin on March 25, due to a recent disclosure of thousands of pages of documents by federal prosecutors.
A delay to the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president would mark another victory for Trump, who has sought to slow down proceedings in his various legal entanglements as the Republican candidate prepares to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.
The hush money case in New York state court in Manhattan is currently slated to be the first of four criminal cases Trump faces to reach trial. While none of the other three cases have firm trial dates, any delay in the New York case could complicate scheduling the other cases.
In a court filing, prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said Trump had requested a 90-day delay to the trial because the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office – which previously looked into the hush money case – in early March disclosed 73,000 pages of potentially relevant material.
“Although the People are prepared to proceed to trial on March 25, we do not oppose an adjournment in an abundance of caution and to ensure the defendant has sufficient time to review the new materials,” prosecutors wrote.
Trump’s request was not immediately available. Any delay would have to be approved by the judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover-up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she said they had a decade earlier, which he denied.
Earlier this week, Trump asked Merchan to delay the trial until the U.S. Supreme Court finishes its review of his claim of presidential immunity in his federal criminal case over efforts to overthrow his 2020 election loss to Biden.
The Supreme Court is slated to hear those arguments on April 25. A 30-day delay to the hush money trial would mean it would start that same week – a little over six months before Election Day.
Trump also faces a state criminal prosecution over his push to reverse the 2020 election results, and a federal prosecution in Florida over his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving the White House in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty in all cases.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Scott Malone)
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