Prosecutors working out of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office are asking the judge in the Stormy Daniels hush money case to intercede and force Donald Trump's lawyers to provide a list of their expert witnesses after stonewalling them for months.
That case has been lost in the shuffle as the former president battles a $250 million financial fraud lawsuit in another Manhattan courtroom, a racketeering case in Georgia, an obstruction of justice federal trial in Florida and a trial in Washington D.C. tied to his actions surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection.
According to a report from the Daily Beast's Jose Pagliery, Manhattan prosecutors have taken the next step and asked Judge Juan Merchan to compel Trump's legal team to provide them with their proposed list of expert witnesses, with accusations they are trying to "sabotage" the trial and extend it out as long as possible.
As the report notes, the former president was charged with 34 felony counts related to paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels about an alleged affair at the time Trump was making his first bid for the presidency.
The Beast's Pagliery reports the pre-trial exchange of information between the prosecutors and the defense team is "not going well."
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"Prosecutors say Trump’s lawyers ignored two months of emails starting in August, refusing to respond to their repeated requests that the defense team identify who in the world they’re planning to call at trial," the report states. "Those experts would, in theory, justify how Trump orchestrated a two-step cover-up that involved having close associate Michael Cohen transfer $130,000 to silence Stormy Daniels, then faking Trump Organization business records to pay him back as supposed 'legal fees.'"
Susan Hoffinger, head of the Manhattan DA’s investigations division, previously wrote to Trump lawyers explaining, "As such, the People request that Defendant comply with his reciprocal discovery obligations.”
Trump's legal team responded over a month later and put the blame on the DA's office for not giving them information they requested.
"But prosecutors say that excuse only appeared five weeks late," wrote the Beast's Pagliery. "And now it’s been three months since the deadline... Prosecutors now warn that this kind of hiccup could muddy up the busy months ahead. Trump is already drowning in legal trouble, currently wrapping up an extremely lengthy bank fraud trial in the civil courthouse next door. And come the new year, the top-ranking Republican presidential primary candidate will be busy with the Iowa caucuses, followed by elections in Nevada, Michigan, and South Carolina."
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