The Daily Fuckup

Manhattan prosecutors told the court on March 14, 2024, that they would not oppose a brief adjournment of Donald Trump’s hush-money trial after a late production of records by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The filing said the office had turned over about 73,000 pages on March 4 and another 31,000 pages on March 13, with more material expected the following week. Prosecutors said they were ready for trial on March 25, but would not oppose up to a 30-day delay so the defense could review the new records. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/2024-03-14PeoplesNotice.pdf))

That was not yet the final word on the calendar. On March 15, Judge Juan Merchan said the trial was adjourned for 30 days from that date, on consent of the prosecution, and said he would set a new trial date after holding a hearing on the discovery dispute. That pushed the start of trial to April 15, 2024. The judge also ordered the parties to submit a timeline and related correspondence about how the records were produced. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/pdfs/Letter-03-15-24.pdf))

The dispute centered on records tied to Michael Cohen and the federal case involving his campaign finance convictions. In its March 14 notice, the district attorney’s office said the timing of the production was driven by Trump’s own subpoena to the U.S. attorney’s office and by the defense’s delay in seeking those records. Prosecutors said the new material did not justify dismissal and did not change their position that they were complying with their discovery obligations. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/2024-03-14PeoplesNotice.pdf))

The trial was already set to be the first criminal case against Trump to reach a jury, and the schedule mattered because it was moving into the heart of the 2024 election season. The immediate result of the March 14 filing was narrower: it opened the door to a short delay request, which the court granted the next day. The bigger case remained intact, and the judge kept the discovery fight alive for a hearing later in March. ([nycourts.gov](https://www.nycourts.gov/LegacyPDFS/press/PDFs/2024-03-14PeoplesNotice.pdf))