Manhattan DA’s Office Escapes Punishment for Document Dump Causing Delay in Trump Criminal Trial Start

In a dramatic turn of events, Judge Juan M. Merchan has rejected the defense’s request to sanction prosecutors in the criminal trial of former President Trump. The defense claimed that nearly 200,000 pages of evidence were dumped on them just weeks before the trial was set to begin, stemming from a previous federal investigation.

Despite agreeing to delay the trial start date to allow Trump’s lawyers to review the material, Judge Merchan denied claims of prosecutorial misconduct and refused to delay the case further, dismiss it entirely, or prevent key witnesses Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels from testifying.

In a written ruling issued recently, Judge Merchan stated that Trump and his legal team were given a reasonable amount of time to prepare and respond to the evidence, thus not suffering any prejudice from the document dump. The trial, which has seen testimony from 22 witnesses including Cohen and Daniels, is now set to move to closing arguments next week.

Trump’s lawyers had accused the Manhattan District Attorney’s office of intentionally withholding evidence from a previous federal investigation to gain an unfair advantage in the case. However, Judge Merchan stated that the DA’s office had no duty to collect evidence from the federal investigation, and Trump’s legal team should have acted sooner if they believed they were missing crucial records.

The trial revolves around charges that Trump falsified business records by mischaracterizing payments to Cohen as legal fees when they were actually reimbursements for hush money paid to Daniels. Trump denies the charges, while Cohen has previously pleaded guilty to related campaign finance violations.