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Mr. Trump, casting the disclosure as evidence of prosecutorial misconduct, has asked Justice Merchan to delay the trial 90 days, or throw out the case altogether. The tentative April 15 trial date, Mr. Bragg’s prosecutors said in a court filing Thursday, provides “a more than reasonable amount of time” for Mr. Trump to review the information. It is unclear whether the judge will set a trial date on Monday or rule later this week. If he sets the case for trial next month, Mr. Trump would for the first time face the prospect of time behind bars. Here’s what else you need to know about Mr. Trump’s daunting day:

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Mr, Stormy Daniels, Juan M, Merchan, Michael D, Cohen, Trump’s, Alvin L, Bragg Organizations: New, Mr Locations: Manhattan, American

is a national security correspondent for The Times, focusing on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism issues overseas, topics he has reported on for more than three decades.

Organizations: The Times

The schedule seemed stacked against Donald J. Trump: four criminal trials in four cities, all in the same year he is running for president. But rather than doom Mr. Trump, the chaotic calendar might just save him. Mr. Trump, who as president helped reshape the federal judiciary, has already persuaded the Supreme Court to delay his trial in Washington. The case in Manhattan, where Mr. Trump is accused of covering up a sex scandal during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, was the only one not mired in potential postponements. On Friday, Justice Juan M. Merchan, who is overseeing the case, delayed the trial at least three weeks, until mid-April.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Juan M, Merchan Organizations: Trump Locations: Washington, Florida, Georgia, Manhattan

☆ Judge Denies One of Trump’s Efforts to Derail Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The federal judge overseeing former President Donald J. Trump’s prosecution on charges of mishandling classified documents on Thursday rejected one of his motions seeking to have the case dismissed, the first time she has denied a legal attack on the indictment. In a two-page order, the judge, Aileen M. Cannon, rebuffed arguments by Mr. Trump’s lawyers that the central statute in the indictment, the Espionage Act, was impermissibly vague and should be struck down entirely. The decision by Judge Cannon followed a nearly daylong hearing in Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., where she entertained arguments from Mr. Trump’s legal team and from prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith about the Espionage Act. The government says the former president violated that law 32 times by removing a trove of highly sensitive classified material from the White House after he left office. Mr. Trump’s lawyers had claimed that certain phrases in the text of the law — for instance, its requirement that prosecutors prove defendants took “unauthorized possession” of documents “relating to the national defense” — were so ambiguous and open to debate as to be unenforceable.

Persons: Donald J, Aileen M, Cannon, Judge Cannon, Jack Smith, ” — Organizations: Federal, Court, White Locations: Fort Pierce, Fla

☆ Trump’s Court Delays Pile Up While the Presidential Race Gathers Speed
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Alan Feuer | Maggie Haberman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Donald Trump’s New York hush money case — the only one of his four criminal cases that looked as if it would soon go to trial — suddenly faced the likelihood of delay on Thursday when a big batch of potential new evidence abruptly became available. The news of the likely postponement arrived as the former president was in federal court in Florida for a separate hearing in a different case — the one in which he stands accused of mishandling classified documents, which even now has no solid start date. The judge there rejected one of a multitude of motions from Mr. Trump to dismiss the case. And in Washington, prosecutors and Mr. Trump’s lawyers are preparing for a showdown at the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments next month on his claim that he is immune from charges in the federal indictment that accuses him of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss. That case was originally supposed to go in front of a jury this month.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, —, Trump Organizations: Supreme Locations: York, Florida, Georgia, Washington

☆ Bob Menendez’s Bribery Case Reminds Us Why Proving Corruption Is So Hard
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the last decade, it has proved surprisingly hard to put politicians accused of corruption behind bars. And juries have occasionally thought the officeholders’ behavior didn’t meet the high standard for corruption. Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who was arraigned yesterday in a federal bribery case, is both an example of the conundrum and a test of whether federal prosecutors now know how to overcome it. In the senator’s last corruption trial, in 2017, jurors couldn’t make sense of the gifts and favors he’d received from a wealthy eye doctor. In exchange, prosecutors say, he attempted to disrupt criminal cases and used his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee inappropriately.

Persons: didn’t, Bob Menendez, he’d, Menendez Organizations: Bob Menendez of New, Democrat, Benz, Senate Foreign Relations Locations: Bob Menendez of, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, Egypt

All the opinions focused on legal issues, and none took a position on whether Mr. Trump had engaged in insurrection. In an interview on a conservative radio program, Mr. Trump said he was pleased by the ruling. The Colorado Supreme Court affirmed the first part of the ruling — that Mr. Trump had engaged in an insurrection. Mr. Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, setting out more than half a dozen arguments about why the state court had gone astray and saying his removal would override the will of the voters. 23-719, is not the only one concerning Mr. Trump on the Supreme Court’s docket.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson —, “, ”, John G, Roberts, ” “, Amy Coney Barrett, Barrett, Bush, Gore, George W, Mr, ” Mr, Trump’s, Anderson, Michael Gold Organizations: Trump, Congress, Jackson, Health Organization, Colorado, Republican, United, The, The Colorado Supreme, Colorado Supreme, Mr, U.S, Supreme Locations: Dobbs v, United States, Colorado, The Colorado, New York

☆ Judge to Decide Timing of Trump Classified Documents Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A federal judge in Florida will hold a hearing on Friday to pick a new date for former President Donald J. Trump’s trial on charges of mishandling classified documents, a move that is likely to have major consequences for his legal and political future. What remains to be seen is just how long of a delay Judge Cannon ends up imposing. On Thursday evening, Mr. Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors in the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, sent Judge Cannon their proposals about when the trial should begin. Mr. Smith’s legal team, hewing to its long-held position of trying to conduct the trial before Election Day, requested a date of July 8. But after months of seeking to delay the trial until next year, Mr. Trump’s lawyers suddenly reversed themselves and suggested a date of Aug. 12.

Persons: Donald J, Aileen M, Cannon, Jack Smith, Judge Cannon, hewing Organizations: Federal, Court Locations: Florida, Fort Pierce, Fla

☆ Trump’s Trial-Delay Strategy Yields Results Even He Did Not Expect
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Maggie Haberman | Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As former President Donald J. Trump was indicted a first time, a second, a third and a fourth last year, he and his legal team cycled through disbelief, anger and a recognition that he would have to spend much of 2024 facing juries as he campaigned to return to the White House. But even as Mr. Trump made the charges against him a rallying cry for his supporters and sought to hijack courtrooms for his political purposes, his lawyers sought ways to delay the trials by using pretrial motions to drive the proceedings into legal cul-de-sacs. It was not clear even to them that the strategy would work. But they nonetheless threw all kinds of arguments at judges intended to push some or all of the trials past Election Day, when a victory by Mr. Trump would give him ways to further postpone judgment or wipe away the charges entirely. The substantial success they have had came into clearer focus on Wednesday, when the Supreme Court decided to take up one of his long-shot legal arguments: that presidents are all but immune from prosecution for actions they take in office.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: Supreme

☆ In Taking Up Trump’s Immunity Claim, Supreme Court Bolstered His Delay Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court that former President Donald J. Trump helped to shape tossed him a legal lifeline on Wednesday night, making a choice that substantially aided his efforts to delay his federal trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. By deciding to take up Mr. Trump’s claim that presidents enjoy almost total immunity from prosecution for any official action while in office — a legal theory rejected by two lower courts and one that few experts think has any basis in the Constitution — the justices bought the former president at least several months before a trial on the election interference charges can start. It is not out of the question that Mr. Trump could still face a jury in the case, in Federal District Court in Washington, before Election Day. At this point, the legal calendar suggests that if the justices issue a ruling by the end of the Supreme Court’s term in June and find that Mr. Trump is not immune from prosecution, the trial could still start by late September or October. But with each delay, the odds increase that voters will not get a chance to hear the evidence that Mr. Trump sought to subvert the last election before they decide whether to back him in the current one.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s Organizations: Court Locations: Washington

☆ Prosecutors Reject Claims of Unfairness in Trump Classified Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-26 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal prosecutors on Monday rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s claims that he was unfairly charged with holding on to classified documents after he left office, saying that his case bore no comparison to the one in which President Biden was cleared of wrongdoing even though he was found in possession of classified materials after leaving the vice presidency. In rebuffing what was known as a “selective prosecution” claim by Mr. Trump, the prosecutors said that while many government officials over the years had taken classified materials with them after leaving office — often inadvertently, but occasionally willfully — Mr. Trump’s case remained unique because of the extent to which he had “resisted the government’s lawful efforts to recover them.”“There has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s,” they wrote. In their 12-page filing, the prosecutors dismissed as a “conspiracy theory” a separate claim that Mr. Trump has raised in his own defense — that Mr. Biden had “secretly directed” the classified documents case and used the special counsel who filed the indictment, Jack Smith, as a “puppet” and a “stalking horse.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Biden, Trump, —, “, ”, Jack Smith

☆ Trump Seeks to Dismiss Classified Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-23 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump launched a flurry of attacks on Thursday night against the federal charges accusing him of illegally holding on to classified documents after he left office, filing more than 70 pages of court papers seeking to have the case thrown out. In four separate motions to dismiss the case, Mr. Trump’s lawyers made a barrage of legal arguments in seeking to circumvent a criminal case that many legal experts consider the most ironclad of the four against him. Some of the arguments tested the boundaries of credulity and flew in the face of prior court rulings. Many appeared designed to delay the case from moving toward trial, a strategy that Mr. Trump has pursued in all of the criminal proceedings he is facing. In one of their most brazen motions, Mr. Trump’s lawyers claimed that he was immune from prosecution on the classified documents charges even though a federal appeals court roundly rejected that argument this month when he sought to use it in a separate case, in which he stands accused of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Locations: credulity

☆ EE. UU. indagó acusaciones de vínculos del narco con aliados del presidente de México
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Alan Feuer | Natalie Kitroeff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Charges Against Two White Nationalists Are Dismissed as ‘Selective Prosecution’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The ruling by the judge, Cormac J. Carney, found that prosecutors had unfairly engaged in “a selective prosecution” against the two men — members of the Rise Above Movement, or R.A.M. — and targeted them chiefly because of their vitriolic speech and white supremacist ideology. While Judge Carney acknowledged that he found the ideas that the movement promoted “reprehensible,” he also said it was “constitutionally impermissible” to bring charges against one group, but not the other, based on politics alone. members such as defendants while ignoring the violence of members of antifa and related far-left groups because R.A.M. engaged in what the government and many believe is more offensive speech,” he wrote.

Persons: counterprotesters, Cormac J, Carney, Judge Carney, ”, R.A.M Organizations: Nazi, Trump Locations: California

☆ Ex-Informant Accused of Lying About Bidens Said He Had Russian Contacts
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Glenn Thrush | Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

informant accused of making false bribery claims about President Biden and his son Hunter — which were widely publicized by Republicans — claimed to have been fed information by Russian intelligence, according to a court filing on Tuesday. But Mr. Smirnov told federal investigators that “officials associated with Russian intelligence were involved in passing a story” about Hunter Biden. Those disclosures, including Mr. Smirnov’s unverifiable claim that he met with Russian intelligence officials as recently as three months ago, made him a flight risk and endangered national security, Justice Department officials said. Mr. Smirnov had been held in custody in Las Vegas, where he has lived since 2022, since his arrest last week. He was released from custody on Tuesday on a personal recognizance bond after a detention hearing, said his lawyers, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld.

Persons: Biden, Hunter —, Republicans —, Alexander Smirnov, Smirnov, Hunter Biden, David Chesnoff, Richard Schonfeld Organizations: Republicans, Justice Locations: Las Vegas

☆ Here’s How the Manhattan Trial’s Timing Could Affect the Washington Election Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Alan Feuer | More About Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the scheduling of the election interference case, which is taking place in Washington, is now in the hands of the Supreme Court. The justices will soon have to decide whether — and how quickly — to hear Mr. Trump’s arguments about having the underlying charges in that case dismissed with a sweeping claim of executive immunity. The election trial in Washington had initially been set to begin on March 4. But the judge overseeing it, Tanya S. Chutkan, recently scrapped that date as Mr. Trump pursued his immunity claims. Justice Merchan has set the hush money case for March 25 in Manhattan, noting on Thursday that the trial could last about six weeks.

Persons: Juan M, Donald J, Tanya S, Trump, Justice Merchan, Chutkan Locations: Manhattan, Washington

The ruling left Mr. Trump with the opportunity to raise different objections to Mr. Vance’s subpoena. AUTUMN 2020Prosecutors interviewed employees of the main bank and insurance company that serve Mr. Trump and issued several new subpoenas. The brief unsigned order was a decisive defeat for Mr. Trump and a turning point in Mr. Vance’s investigation. Just hours later, eight years of financial records were handed over to Mr. Vance’s office. After Mr. Bragg expressed reservations about the case, Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne suspended the presentation of evidence about Mr. Trump to a grand jury.

Persons: Donald J, Michael D, Cohen, Trump, “, Cyrus R, Vance Jr, Vance’s, Stefani Reynolds, Trump’s, Allen H, Weisselberg, Vance, Alvin L, Bragg, Mark F, Carey Dunne, Pomerantz, Dunne, Bragg’s, Allen Weisselberg, Stormy Daniels, Mr, Midwinter Organizations: Mr, New, Trump Organization, The New York Times, Trump Locations: Manhattan, New York State, U.S

☆ Trump’s Legal Cases: Here, There and Everywhere
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-12 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Former President Donald J. Trump sped in and out of the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Monday for a closed-door hearing in the case accusing him of illegally holding on to classified documents after he left office. In Washington, the Supreme Court received a filing that same day from Mr. Trump involving his last-ditch efforts to claim immunity from separate charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The judge in Georgia overseeing the case accusing him of seeking to overturn his election loss in that state will hold a hearing on Thursday about whether to disqualify the district attorney who filed the charges. And in New York, two proceedings related to Mr. Trump were set to take place later in the week on two consecutive days, in two different courthouses, just two blocks from each other, with major implications for both him and his real estate business.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Locations: Fort Pierce, Fla, Washington, Georgia, New York

☆ Prosecutors Seek to Protect Witnesses in Trump Classified Documents Case
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to protect the identities of several witnesses involved in the criminal case accusing former President Donald J. Trump of illegally retaining classified documents, saying that if their names were revealed before trial they could be exposed to “intolerable and needless risks.”“There is a well-documented pattern in which judges, agents, prosecutors and witnesses involved in cases involving Trump have been subject to threats, harassment and intimidation,” the prosecutors wrote. The request to protect the witnesses — made in court papers filed late Thursday night — came after Mr. Trump’s legal team asked Judge Aileen M. Cannon, who is overseeing the case, for permission to name some of the witnesses in court papers it recently filed related to arguments about discovery evidence. Judge Cannon ultimately ruled in favor of Mr. Trump and said the witnesses could be identified. The government responded on Thursday night by accusing her of having committed a “clear error” and by asking her to rethink her decision and to keep the identities of more than two dozen witnesses from being revealed.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, —, Judge Aileen M, Cannon, Judge Cannon Organizations: Trump, Mr

In analyzing whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment applied to Mr. Trump, a trial court judge in Denver and Colorado’s top court concluded that his actions met that standard. Mr. Trump’s allies — as well as even some of his critics — tend to argue that “insurrection” is hyperbole. Still, the special counsel, Jack Smith, did not include inciting an insurrection in the charges he brought against Mr. Trump in connection with his attempts to stay in office. Mr. Trump has argued that all his actions were protected by the Constitution, including the First Amendment. But other politicians have faced similar legal challenges in connection with the events of Jan. 6, 2021.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, —, Trump —, Donald Trump, Pete Marovich, Mike Pence, Jack Smith, Marjorie Taylor Greene, “, Couy Griffin, Griffin, ” Organizations: Capitol, Trump, Electoral, Union, United, Capitol ., The New York Times, Justice Department, Washington, Mr Locations: Denver, United States, Georgia, New Mexico, New Mexico’s Otero County

☆ Federal Appeals Court Rejects Trump’s Claim of Absolute Immunity
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Alan Feuer | Charlie Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that he was immune to charges of plotting to subvert the results of the 2020 election, ruling that he must go to trial on a criminal indictment accusing him of seeking to overturn his loss to President Biden. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed Mr. Trump a significant defeat, but was unlikely to be the final word on his claims of executive immunity. Mr. Trump is expected to continue his appeal to the Supreme Court. Still, the panel’s 57-page ruling signaled an important moment in American jurisprudence, answering a question that had never been addressed by an appeals court: Can former presidents escape being held accountable by the criminal justice system for things they did while in office?

Persons: Donald J, Biden, Trump Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, Supreme

☆ After Speedy Start, Appeals Court Slows Down on Trump Immunity Decision
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Alan Feuer | Charlie Savage | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In December, when a federal appeals court agreed to hear former President Donald J. Trump’s sweeping claims to be immune from charges of plotting overturn the 2020 election, it laid out a lightning-fast briefing schedule, asking the defense and prosecution to file their papers on successive Saturdays during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. But after sending up what appeared to be clear signals that they intended to swiftly resolve this phase of the immunity dispute — which lies at the heart of both the viability and timing of Mr. Trump’s trial on the election subversion charges — the appeals court judges have yet to issue a decision. The implications are already coming into focus. On Friday, the Federal District Court judge overseeing election case, Tanya S. Chutkan, formally scrapped her plan to start the trial on March 4. She was bowing to the reality that time had run out to get the proceeding going by then, mostly because of the wrangling over Mr. Trump’s immunity claim, and said she would set a new date “if and when” that matter is resolved.

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, Tanya S, Chutkan Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, Federal

☆ Man Convicted of Assaulting Police in Tipping Point on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Pennsylvania barber whose violent attacks on the police on Jan. 6, 2021, were widely seen as the tipping point in the storming of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob was convicted on Friday of federal assault charges. The barber, Ryan Samsel, was one of the first people to confront the police on Jan. 6 and push through barricades at what is known as the Peace Circle, allowing hundreds of others behind him to breach the grounds of the Capitol and ultimately the building itself. Prosecutors at a trial for Mr. Samsel and four co-defendants, who were also convicted of assault and other charges, said that the men’s actions “ignited a fire that burned for over four hours at the Capitol.”The guilty verdicts, returned by the judge after a bench trial in Federal District Court in Washington, were the latest reminders that the prosecutions of those who took part in the storming of the Capitol continue apace, even more than three years after the attack. This week alone, charges were unsealed against at least nine additional defendants, bringing the total number of people accused in connection with the Capitol attack to more than 1,260. The assault on the building has also found itself front and center in the 2024 presidential campaign as former President Donald J. Trump has lionized those who joined in it, referring to them as “hostages” and “political prisoners.” As he has often done with potential political liabilities, Mr. Trump has sought to flip the script on the Capitol attack and turn it to his electoral advantage through a campaign of persistent disinformation built around the assertion that the Justice Department is persecuting him and his supporters.

Persons: Ryan Samsel, Samsel, “, Donald J, Trump, ” Organizations: Trump, Capitol, Prosecutors, Federal, Court, Justice Department Locations: Pennsylvania, Washington

☆ Prosecutors in Documents Case Reject Trump’s Claims of Bias
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Alan Feuer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Federal prosecutors pushed back on Friday against former President Donald J. Trump’s contention that his prosecution over the handling of classified documents was motivated by a longstanding bias against him among the intelligence agencies and other government officials. The pushback by the office of the special counsel, Jack Smith, came in a 67-page court filing. The filing was intended to argue against Mr. Trump’s requests for additional discovery materials in the classified documents case. When Mr. Trump’s lawyers made those requests for materials last month, they signaled that they planned to place accusations that the intelligence community and other members of the so-called deep state were biased against Mr. Trump at the heart of their defense. But Mr. Smith’s team said that the former president’s requests for additional information were “based on speculative, unsupported, and false theories of political bias and animus.”

Persons: Donald J, Jack Smith, Trump, Smith’s, ” Organizations: Mr

“I just wanted to defend myself, my family and, frankly, the presidency,” Trump said in his under four-minute appearance on the stand. And though the judge told the jury to disregard those remarks, Trump got his message across. Casting himself as the victim of a witch hunt, Trump has highlighted his four criminal indictments in fund-raising emails. He revels in media coverage of his motorcade speeding to various courthouses. And his confrontational performances in front of judges and juries are calculated for maximum attention.

Persons: Donald Trump, Jean Carroll, “, ” Trump, Trump, Al Capone, Casting Organizations: Trump Locations: New Hampshire, New York

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