Trump arrives at New York courthouse for hush money hearing: ‘This is a witch hunt’ – Washington Examiner

Former President Donald Trump said on Monday before entering a New York courtroom that the hush money case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a “witch hunt.”

Trump’s remarks were brief and came just before a hearing, which Judge Juan Merchan set to hear arguments about Trump’s claim that alleged discovery violations by Bragg, a Democrat, warranted the case’s dismissal.

“This is a witch hunt. This is a hoax,” Trump said to reporters before heading toward the courtroom.

🚨BREAKING: Trump makes statement as he enters NY courtroom in case brought against him by DA Alvin Bragg:

“This is a witch hunt. This is a hoax.” pic.twitter.com/BF4KWAPByE

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 25, 2024

The hearing will focus on tens of thousands of pages of discovery Trump received earlier this month, within weeks of the trial’s original start date of March 25.

Trump argued in court filings that the late-arriving batches of potential evidence warranted at least a 90-day trial delay and that the case should be dismissed because, according to Trump, Bragg had intentionally withheld discovery related to Michael Cohen that could help Trump.

The discovery came from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which had led a federal prosecution against Cohen in 2018 on charges partly related to the state charges Trump is facing now. Bragg has charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Prosecutors said in court filings that they had done their due diligence last year in attempting to obtain pertinent discovery from the U.S. attorney’s office, effectively blaming the office for initially failing to provide a complete batch of discovery when they had first asked for it.

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The prosecutors also accused Trump of attempting to delay his trial with frivolous demands, such as dismissing the case, that were disproportionate to the discovery missteps that had occurred.

Merchan, for his part, saw reason to delay the case at least until mid-April and to hold the hearing to examine the controversy surrounding the discovery.

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