"Trump’s first criminal trial is now set for April 15"
"He is charged with falsifying business records to cover up a potential sex scandal.
NEW YORK — Donald Trump will face his first criminal trial on April 15, the judge overseeing the former president’s hush money case ruled Monday after having allowed a several-week delay so Trump’s lawyers could review last-minute documents relevant to the case.
The Manhattan trial, over a payment Trump authorized in the final weeks of the 2016 election to silence porn star Stormy Daniels’ claims of a sexual encounter with him, had been set to start March 25. But after federal prosecutors handed over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents related to the case in recent weeks, Justice Juan Merchan agreed earlier this month to postpone the start of proceedings until at least mid-April.
At a hearing on Monday, Merchan refused to allow further delays, saying that despite Trump’s attorneys’ claims, the district attorney’s office “is not at fault for the late production of documents from the U.S. attorney’s office.”
In court filings, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had consented to a 30-day delay, while Trump’s lawyers pushed for at least 90 days and sought to have the case dismissed entirely."
