Former President Donald Trump is using the Stormy Daniels trial to delay his classified documents case in Florida, prosecutor Jack Smith claimed.
In his latest filing on Monday, Smith wrote that Trump has known for a long time about the Daniels case and is using it to request a new timetable in the Florida case.
"Following their pattern, the defendants responded to the Court's deadline by seeking another postponement. This time, Trump invokes his New York trial," Smith wrote in court papers filed on his behalf by Julie Edelstein, an attorney in his office.
Judge Aileen Canon is overseeing the Florida case in which Trump is accused of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstructing attempts by federal officials to retrieve them.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
Two men employed by Trump, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, are accused of moving boxes of sensitive materials around Trump's Florida home to prevent federal agents from finding them and conspiring to delete security footage that had been sought under a subpoena. Both men pleaded not guilty to all federal charges, including conspiracy to obstruct justice.
If Trump can delay the Florida trial until after the presidential election and wins, he has a range of options to end it, including pardoning himself and appointing a favorable attorney general to drop the case.
In the New York case, the prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid two women—adult film star Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—not to disclose his alleged affairs with them. Trump has denied all the allegations and says he is the target of a political witch hunt.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Tuesday.
In Monday's filing, Smith noted that Cannon set May 9 as the deadline for defendants' expert witness disclosures.
"This Court set the May 9 deadline fully apprised of defendant Trump's New York trial," Smith wrote, yet Trump's legal team have filed a delay motion in court as if the New York case had not already been factored into Cannon's timeline.
"Although the defendants' motion reads as though the Court were unaware of Trump's other case...those premises are plainly wrong. The defendants have had ample notice that these deadlines would be scheduled and have already had months to complete the work."
He also strongly rejected claims by Trump's lawyers that they will be too busy with the Daniels case to meet Florida deadlines.
"Trump elected to engage the same counsel of record in multiple serious criminal matters, and his counsel agreed to the multiple engagements," he wrote. "Having made such decisions, they should not be allowed to use their overlapping engagements to perpetually delay trial in this case.
"Not to mention, the defendants have capable local counsel who can contribute to the work. The Court should reject the defendants' latest delay tactic and maintain the established deadline."
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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