A Manhattan judge again rebuffed attempts by former President Donald Trump’s lawyers to delay the New York Attorney General’s case against him — saying the October trial date was “written in stone” during a hearing Tuesday that was delayed by a bomb threat.
Officials did a “sweep” of the 60 Centre Street courthouse, clearing it of any threat, after bomb threats were called in against it, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office at nearby One Hogan Place and other locations via 911, court officials said.
“As if this case isn’t’ exciting enough on its own, there was a disturbance this morning but my best understanding is that everyone is here and ready to go,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said to the courtroom gallery once the hearing started following a 20 minute delay.
The disturbance came amid anticipation that Trump, 76, will be indicted on criminal charges by a grand jury that has for weeks been hearing evidence from prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. A state courts spokesman said “not that I’m aware of” when asked if the bogus bomb threat had mentioned Trump.
Lawyers for the former president, his company the Trump Organization and his three eldest kids Ivanka, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. were in court seeking to delay the Oct. 2 trial date that Engoron previously set in AG Letitia James’ $250 million civil fraud lawsuit against them.
Trump lawyers argued extensively about how they needed more time to prepare for the trial, asking to push the date out.
But at the end of the hearing, Engoron said: “I don’t want to hear requests for more time on the trial date. That is written in stone.”
In September, the AG’s office filed suit against the Trump defendants alleging “staggering fraud” in the company business — specifically claiming that Trump exaggerated his assets on statements of financial condition in order to secure better loan and insurance terms.
Earlier in the hearing, Engoron said the case is “complex but not complicated. It all boils down to whether the statements of financial condition are true or false.”
In asking for a trial extension, Trump lawyer Chris Kise said they were overwhelmed with information turned over by the AG’s office consisting of 700,000 documents, totaling 2.6 million pages and that he claimed would take 11,000 hours to comb through.
“The entire world is watching this courtroom,” Kise said. “It’s because everyone wants to see and hear all of the facts and that’s what we want.”
Kise said they needed to take 25 more depositions and denied that the Trump camp was delaying the case.
Engoron said he would allow Trump’s side to take 10 more depositions — on top of the 10 they had already taken.
Kise also denied accusations that the Trump defendants were seeking any grand jury information on the possible indictment of Trump that has been looming over the past week.
“We are not seeking grand jury materials,” Kise reassured Engoron and lawyers for the AG’s office.
Law enforcement have said that they are gearing up for the possible fallout if Trump is arrested in connection to hush money payments allegedly made on his behalf to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 in an effort to silence her about her and the then-presidential candidate’s alleged affair.
Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, called for his supporters to come out and protest if he is arrested.