neighborhood. During Trump's arraignment, the court set deadlines for pre-trial proceedings, including for prosecutors to provide
discovery to the defense. The court set a deadline of August 8, 2023, for pre-trial motions to be filed. Trump's lawyers maintained that he was unaware of any allegedly unlawful schemes that his allies or associates may have engaged in. On March 12, 2024, the defense team filed their strategy writing "President Trump lacked the requisite intent to commit the conduct charged in the Indictment because of his awareness that various lawyers were involved in the underlying conduct giving rise to the charges." The defense counsel stated that they would not invoke the formal "advice of counsel" defense, but that Trump would "elicit evidence concerning the presence, involvement and advice of lawyers in relevant events giving rise to the charges".
Request for indictment dismissal On September 29, 2023, Trump's team submitted omnibus motions to dismiss the indictment and requested clarification of the charges. On April 27, Trump's team asked for the charges to be explained in full. It was possible that the second crime(s) would eventually be specified in a
bill of particulars, but according to a governing appeals case from this is not necessary. On May 16, the DA's office argued that it did not need to elaborate further on the basis that Trump already "has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense", while reiterating possible secondary charges. Trump's team was reportedly considering invoking
a 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision which emphasizes the importance of specifying punishable criminal charges; additionally,
a 1999 decision states that "any fact ... that increases the maximum penalty for [one] crime must be charged in an indictment ... and proved". However, the court did partially grant Trump's request seeking clarification of the charges. Trump is not only accused of falsifying business records, but doing so with the intention to commit or conceal some other crime. Holding it would be unfair to expect Trump to prepare a defense to a newly raised theory mid-trial, the court limited the prosecution to just three theories of "other crimes" that had already been identified during pre-trial procedure.
Discovery materials and witnesses As of Trump's arraignment on April 4, 2023, it was expected that the
discovery process would take several months. On April 17, 2023, the DA's office requested that Merchan obtain further information from Tacopina, including his firm's correspondence with Daniels, to determine whether their history constituted a
conflict of interest. On May 4, Merchan heard arguments about the DA office's request to restrict information it turns over to Trump's lawyers from being shared with Trump himself (at least until the trial), citing his past social-media posts attacking Bragg and witnesses. The defense has argued that the government should be equally restrained from discussing information publicly and that Trump should be allowed to defend himself politically. On May 8, Merchan ruled in favor of the order, barring evidence from being shared on social media. The judge instructed Trump and his lawyers on their conduct on May 23, informing them that violations could incur a "wide range of sanctions" including being held in
contempt of court. On May 26, prosecutors stated that they had informed Trump's lawyers that evidence in the hush-money case includes various audio recordings, including one of Trump and a witness. It was unclear if this was in reference to secretly recorded audio from September 2016, which Cohen had previously released. On August 3, federal judge
Lewis A. Kaplan, who oversaw
E. Jean Carroll's
civil lawsuits against Trump alleging sexual assault and defamation, ruled that Carroll's lawyers could provide video of Trump being deposed to Manhattan prosecutors. On January 15, 2024, Tacopina withdrew from Trump's counsel and Daniels said she expected to testify. Later in the month, the DA was reportedly beginning to meet with witnesses ahead of the trial. On March 18, the judge ruled that both Daniels and Cohen could testify, placing some restrictions on Daniels (as well as Karen McDougal). The defense had requested that the two be blocked from testifying the previous month. Additionally, the judge ruled that Trump's
Access Hollywood tape could not be played during the trial but that it could be discussed. On April 22, Merchan ruled on what prosecutors may ask Trump if he testified, following a pretrial
Sandoval hearing held on April 19. On May 10, Judge Juan Merchan suggested that Allen Weisselberg could be called to testify in court after the defense objected to the prosecution's plan to show the jury a $750,000 severance agreement. Neither the defense nor the prosecution had subpoenaed Weisselberg, and there were procedural concerns about adding him to the witness list so late in the trial.
Requests for recusal Justice Juan Merchan, who has experience with financial cases, was randomly assigned to oversee the grand jury proceedings in Trump's case, and continued to oversee handling of the charges approved by the grand jury. On May 31, 2023, Trump's lawyers filed a motion asking Judge Merchan to
recuse himself from the case citing his daughter's position as partner and COO of Authentic Campaigns, a consulting firm that serviced
Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. The motion additionally alleged that Merchan had encouraged former
Trump Organization CFO
Allen Weisselberg to cooperate with the prosecution against Trump in a previous case he had presided over, and that Merchan had made three $10–15 donations to various Democratic causes. On June 20, the DA's office argued against the recusal request, citing Trump's alleged "prolific history of baselessly accusing state and federal judges around the country of bias", saying he seemed to be trying to land a more favorable judge. Prosecutors further argued that there was a lack of
hard evidence that a particular trial result would aid Merchan directly or greatly via his daughter's Democratic work, which a state ethics panel had similarly concluded in early May. The court denied the motion on August 11, 2023. On April 1, 2024, the defense asked Merchan for permission to file a motion repeating their prior request that he recuse himself for what the defense said was a conflict of interest due to his daughter's Democratic involvement. On April 1, the
New York City Bar Association stated "unequivocal support" for Merchan's handling of the recusal concerns. On April 2, prosecutors pointed out that the court and an ethics panel had already found that the political activities of a relative are not grounds for questioning a judge's impartiality. The same day, Trump posted a
Fox & Friends clip in which
Brian Kilmeade criticized the judge's daughter, although Trump highlighted another commentator's statement. As of April 3, Trump had not deleted offending posts made prior to Merchan's expanded order; that night, he linked to a report by activist
Laura Loomer criticizing Merchan's daughter and wife. On April 5, Trump's campaign publicized their motion for Merchan to recuse himself (dated April 3), On April 6, Trump posted online that if arrested for violating the gag order, he would consider it a "great honor" to "become a Modern Day
Nelson Mandela", the former South African president jailed for anti-
apartheid activism. On April 8, Trump's team asked an appeals court to delay the trial and pause the gag order while they appeal the latter; this was denied the following day. On April 10, an appeals judge denied another defense delay request which was based on Merchan having not yet ruled on the recusal motion. On April 30, an appellate court denied requests for both a recusal and a stay of proceedings.
Request for removal to federal court (courthouse pictured), Trump's request to
remove the case to federal court was denied. On May 4, 2023, Trump's lawyers asked for the case to be moved to a federal court (though it would remain a state-law prosecution conducted by the Manhattan DA), arguing that it involved alleged conduct somehow "performed while in office"—despite the potential federal election-law violations not being specified and occurring prior to Trump's inauguration. Bragg asked for the removal request to be dismissed, arguing that Trump had failed to establish that he was an
officer of the United States during his presidency, to which the defense expounded its initial argument. In a hearing on June 27, District Judge
Alvin Hellerstein opined that Trump's conduct likely did not constitute presidential activity. On July 19, arguing that the matter was apparently a personal "cover-up of an embarrassing event", Hellerstein ruled that the case should remain in state court. Trump appealed the decision on July 28, but withdrew this on November 14.
Trial scheduling On May 23, 2023, Justice Merchan set the trial for March 25, 2024. Trump's team complained that he expected to have multiple trials around that time. Merchan said he would discuss rescheduling to another time. At a February 15, 2024, hearing, which Trump attended, Merchan reaffirmed the March 25 trial date. In early February 2024, Trump's
federal election obstruction trial, originally set for early March, was postponed pending appeals, increasing the likelihood of the Manhattan criminal trial taking place as planned on March 25, 2024. On March 11, 2024, Trump's lawyers requested a delay of trial until after the federal election obstruction case on the basis that it would bolster his argument of
presidential immunity, as some evidence and allegedly some acts overlapped with his time in office. Trump's team cited, from April 2018, Trump's denying knowledge of the hush-money payment to reporters and
tweeting in defense of Cohen's credibility. Later on March 11, Merchan pointed out that Trump's team had missed the filing deadline and said either party would need his permission to file additional pretrial motions. Also on March 11, Trump asked to delay trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he is generally immune from prosecution in the
federal charges on election obstruction. Granting the motion would have delayed trial until mid-summer or later, as the Supreme Court had already scheduled those arguments for April 25 and may not rule until the end of the court's term in early July. Merchan denied the motion on April 3, saying that he doubted its "sincerity and actual purpose", given that Trump made this request only two weeks before trial. In March 2024, the
U.S. Attorney's Office provided prosecutors with approximately 170,000 pages of documents, largely related to the 2017 federal probe of Cohen's payment to Daniels (and mostly reflecting evidence already turned over to Trump's lawyers in June 2023). Trump's lawyers sought a delay in the trial on the basis of the newly produced records; the DA's office said in court that only 300 of the documents were relevant to Trump's defense. On March 15, 2024, the judge delayed the start of trial until mid-April. On March 25, 2024, the judge set a trial date of April 15, and denied a motion by Trump's team to further delay the trial. On March 18, Trump's team requested an additional delay on the basis that pretrial publicity and apparent anti-Trump bias in Manhattan would prohibit a fair jury from being selected in April, although only 35% in the cited poll said they were convinced Trump was guilty in the DA's case specifically. Trump's lawyers cited berating statements by Cohen, e.g. saying he served jail time because his "lying" former boss "couldn't keep his mushroom dick in his pants". On March 25, the assistant DA countered that "publicity is not likely to abate [and] the pretrial publicity has been ... exacerbated by the defendant". On April 8, Trump's team asked the appeals court for a delay to allow an attempt to move the trial to a different county, which was denied the same day. and so he could appeal the gag order, which was denied the next day. On April 10, the appeals court denied Trump's request to postpone trial on the basis of Merchan being unqualified. On April 12, Merchan denied the defendant's request to delay trial on the basis of "prejudicial" media coverage. On April 15, Merchan said Trump was "required to be here" on April 25 and "not required to be at the Supreme Court" that day, when it would hear arguments on his immunity claim in the federal election case. Merchan said he was not yet prepared to say whether trial would be held on May 17 to allow Trump to attend his son Barron's high-school graduation, but indicated that he probably would grant him the day off if the proceedings progressed at an expected pace. Trump subsequently complained that he would "not be allowed" to attend the graduation, but on April 30 the judge said he would be able to do so. On May 17, Donald and Melania Trump attended their son's graduation from
Oxbridge Academy at
West Palm Beach, followed by a visit to Lincoln Reagan Dinner at the 2024 annual Minnesota Republican convention in
Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Gag order In a May 2023 hearing and court filing, prosecutors expressed concern that Trump would misuse evidence obtained through pretrial discovery procedure to attack people involved in the case, including witnesses. At Trump's arraignment, on April 4, 2023, Merchan instructed Blanche to "speak to your client and anybody else you need to, and remind them to please refrain, please refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence or civil unrest. Please refrain from making comments or engaging in conduct that has the potential to incite violence, create civil unrest, or jeopardize the safety or well-being of any individuals." Blanche had stated that Trump was "frustrated, upset, and believes that there is a grave injustice happening with him being in this courtroom today" which Merchan rebuked "I don't share your view that certain language and certain rhetoric is just by frustration." On February 26, 2024, the Manhattan DA asked for a gag order on Trump, noting that Trump has been fined $15,000 for two violations of a gag order in the
civil fraud trial by disparaging the judge's law clerk on social media, and reporting that police had logged 89 threats to Bragg, his family, or staff in 2023 (as opposed to a single threat in 2022). On March 7, Merchan ruled that the jury would be
anonymous except to some involved in the trial, including Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. On March 26, Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, restricting what he could say publicly about people involved in the case. Additionally, the judge warned the defense, under the threat of contempt, against
dilatory tactics such as the late filing of pretrial motions or last-minute demands, pointing out that Trump had "stated publicly that the defense goal is to delay these proceedings ... past the
2024 presidential election". On March 26, Trump made online posts attacking the judge, the gag order, and Merchan's daughter, the latter over an anti-Trump social-media post created by someone impersonating her on social media. The same day, Merchan imposed a gag order forbidding Trump to publicly comment on court staff, prosecutors,
prospective jurors, or their families, or to cause others to make such statements, in a way that interferes with the case. Bragg (as a public figure) and Merchan (as the judge) were specifically exempted from protection. The court also ordered Trump not to comment on prospective trial witnesses concerning their potential participation in the criminal case. On March 27 and 28, Trump again attacked Merchan's daughter on social media. On March 29, prosecutors requested that the limits of the gag order be explicated regarding family of court staff in hopes of terminating what they considered
intentionally defiant behavior by Trump. On April 1, Merchan expanded the gag order to protect his and Bragg's family members, saying attacks on them "serve no legitimate purpose". He wrote that Trump's continued attacks posted a "very real" threat to the integrity of proceedings and could cause those involved in the case to fear for themselves and their families, which would "undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself". On April 11, Trump disparaged expected witnesses Cohen and Daniels on social media, referring to them as dishonest "sleaze bags".
Contempt hearings were later held concerning numerous alleged violations of the gag order. On May 14, a New York appeals court denied Trump's request to overturn the order. Also on May 14, United States Senator
Tommy Tuberville called the gag order "ridiculous" for stopping Trump "from having a say-so in his own trial"; Tuberville further said that members of Congress were attending the trial "to speak our piece for President Trump" and "overcome this gag order", and he hoped that "more and more" members of Congress would do so. Republican members of Congress, including Tuberville,
JD Vance,
Cory Mills,
Nicole Malliotakis and Speaker
Mike Johnson, have criticized witness Michael Cohen, while
Byron Donalds,
Rick Scott, Vance, and Johnson have criticized Merchan's daughter.
New York magazine journalist Andrew Rice claimed that during Cohen's May 13 testimony, he saw Trump penning revision notes as to statements about the case from his Republican allies. On May 14, Trump commented that "I do have a lot of surrogates, and they're speaking very beautifully." On May 20, speaking outside the courtroom, Trump mentioned witnesses Robert Costello and Michael Cohen. On June 25, Merchan lifted parts of Trump's gag order, allowing him to talk about the jury and witnesses who took the stand during the trial. Merchan also stated that the gag order would be completely lifted following sentencing.
Statute of limitations In
New York, the
statute of limitations is typically two years for
misdemeanors and five years for
felonies. During his presidency, Trump spent the majority of his time outside New York. == Trial ==