Manhattan DA proposes last-minute delay to Trump’s hush money trial

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has asked the judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump to delay the trial by as much as 30 days – just two weeks before it is set to occur.

On Thursday, Mr Bragg asked a judge to push back the trial so prosecutors could review approximately 31,000 pages of records that were submitted by the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) on Wednesday.

Those records, which Mr Bragg said were requested more than a year ago, are related to a federal investigation into Michael Cohen – whose testimony Mr Bragg used to build the case in which he is accusing Mr Trump of falsifying business records.

Mr Bragg said that while most of the filings are unrelated to the case, he noted approximately 172 pages of witness statements could be relevant. He added that prosecutors are prepared to go to trial as expected on 25 March and find no merit for dismissal but “do not oppose a brief adjournment of up to 30 days”.

The former president’s team sought to delay the case earlier this week when they asked Judge Juan Merchan to pause the trial until the US Supreme Court rules on his “presidential immunity” claim.

Alvin Bragg

The Manhattan criminal case against Mr Trump, who is the Republican frontrunner, was set to be the first of his trials to occur before Election Day.

Last year, a grand jury in Manhattan indicted the former president in the first of what would become four criminal cases. He was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments that Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to prevent the release of potential reputation-damaging information before the 2016 presidential election.

He was then indicted in Washington DC for alleged federal