- Trump has demanded more detail from Manhattan prosecutors concerning his hush-money prosecution.
- On Tuesday, lawyers for DA Alvin Bragg said Trump already has everything he’s currently entitled to.
- Trump won’t get more from prosecutors until he agrees not to weaponize the materials, the DA said.
The Manhattan district attorney has denied — for now — former President Donald Trump’s demand for a lot more detail on his hush-money prosecution.
Trump received all the detail he’s entitled to last month, the DA told defense lawyers in a court filing on Tuesday, referring to a 34-count indictment and a 13-page statement of facts issued by DA Alvin Bragg back on April 4.
Tuesday’s filing said Trump and his defense team would soon be getting “millions of pages” of additional details on the prosecution’s case on a rolling basis — just not yet.
That so-called discovery material, “will include grand jury minutes, grand jury exhibits, prior witness statements, financial documents, subpoena compliance, and extensive additional materials,” including witness emails and texts, Tuesday’s filing promised.
But first, Trump must agree not to weaponize these sensitive materials by posting them online or otherwise publicly distributing them, as stated in a protective order signed on May 8 by the judge presiding over the case, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Trump is set to formally agree to the protective order on Tuesday, May 23, when he is scheduled to appear before Merchan via video at a public hearing in the judge’s lower Manhattan courtroom.
Under the protective order, Trump will be allowed to view the new discovery material only in the presence of his lawyers.
Prosecutors will start turning over these “voluminous” materials to Trump’s defense team once Trump “has been advised on the record of the terms and content of, and conduct prohibited by, the protective order entered by this court on May 8, 2023,” Tuesday’s filing said.
Assistant District Attorney Becky Mangold did tip the DA’s hand slightly in the filing.
Trump allegedly falsified business records to conceal violations of the following state and federal laws, the filing revealed:
- New York Election Law 17-152, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote or prevent an election. Bragg previously alleged that less than two weeks before the 2016 election, Trump worked with others, including the editors of the National Enquirer, to suppress porn star Stormy Daniels’ account of having a sexual encounter with him in 2006. Trump has denied conspiring to influence the election and the alleged tryst itself.
- New York Tax Law 1801(a)(3) and 1802, which make it a crime to knowingly submit false information “in connection with any return, audit, investigation, or proceeding” or to commit any act of tax fraud. Bragg has alleged that internal Trump Organization records include computations for how to reimburse then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for making the $130,000 hush money outlay to Daniels.
- Trump and his company misrepresented Cohen’s reimbursement as “legal fees” in company books, the DA alleged last month. In deciding how much Cohen should be reimbursed, company officials upped the amount by calculating how much in taxes Cohen would owe from pocketing those “fees,” the DA also alleged last month.
- New York Penal Law 175.05, a misdemeanor that criminalizes any false entries in a business record. Bragg has alleged there were false entries in the records of the Trump Organization and the National Enquirer concerning the hush money payment to Daniels.
- Federal Election Campaign Act 52 USC 30101, the US law that regulates election contributions and expenditures. Bragg has alleged that the $130,000 payment to Daniels was an unreported expenditure by Trump’s campaign, made to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has denied the charges and pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts.