“The overwhelming majority of the production is entirely immaterial, duplicative or substantially duplicative of previously disclosed materials, or cumulative of evidence concerning [former Trump lawyer] Michael Cohen’s unrelated federal convictions that defendant has been on notice about for months,” Bragg’s filing said.
Bragg also wrote that no further delay in proceeding to trial is necessary. A trial could begin in less than a month for Trump, the likely Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
Last week, the trial, which was supposed to begin on March 25, was postponed until at least mid-April in response to recent documents from the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan to the parties in the case. The documents related to the federal investigation into Cohen, who is a central witness in Bragg’s case.
While Trump wasn’t charged by federal authorities with Cohen in 2018, when Trump was president, it was revealed in court that Cohen acted on Trump’s behalf and at his direction when paying hush money to an adult film actress. Cohen pleaded guilty in federal court to crimes including campaign finance fraud.
Bragg filed an indictment against Trump nearly a year ago, marking the first time a former U.S. president had been charged with a crime. The indictment on 34 counts of falsifying business records as a low-level felony preceded other serious cases against Trump.
Trump is accused of purposely concealing the true nature of reimbursements to Cohen, who paid $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016, allegedly to keep her from speaking publicly about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges in four jurisdictions.
In Florida, he faces charges in federal court for storing sensitive documents in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida after refusing to return them to the government. In Washington and in Fulton County, Ga., he is charged in connection with alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
