Last year, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office faced a significant challenge as it sought to prevent former President Donald Trump from obtaining personal emails and text messages of Michael Cohen, a key witness in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
Trump's legal team circumvented local prosecutors by appealing directly to federal authorities, who had previously imprisoned Cohen, obtaining over 30,000 emails aimed at undermining Cohen's credibility in the upcoming trial, according to recent report by the Daily Beast.
The move has flooded the Manhattan district attorney’s office with documentation from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), complicating the prosecution's efforts in what is set to be the first criminal trial against a former American president.
Todd Blanche, Trump's chief defense attorney, has accused the prosecution of withholding evidence crucial for Trump's defense, particularly highlighting concerns over the handling of data from Cohen's phones, the Daily Beast reported.
The defense is now tasked with reviewing over 119,000 documents released by the SDNY since early March, a development that has pushed back the trial's start date from March 25 to at least April.
“The people’s conduct relating to data from Cohen’s phones is particularly suspect,” the Daily Beast quoted Blanche saying.
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The case's complexity is compounded by Cohen's role in arranging a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels near the end of the 2016 presidential campaign. Initially investigated by the SDNY without directly implicating Trump, this backstory adds another layer of intricacy to the case.
However, the Manhattan district attorney later indicted Trump on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records to conceal the payment.
In a strategic legal victory, Trump's lawyers managed to secure the release of Cohen's communications and other materials from the SDNY, despite the Manhattan district attorney's efforts to limit access. This includes bank records, personal communications and material seized from Cohen's electronic devices in 2018.
Notably, the defense has yet to obtain a draft manuscript of a pro-Trump memoir Cohen was writing in 2018, which they argue could have significant value at trial.
The unfolding legal drama underscores the intricate battle between Trump's defense and the Manhattan district attorney, with both sides navigating a complex web of legal and procedural challenges ahead of the historic trial.
This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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