Judge Merkel brought both sides into the courtroom early Monday and said closing arguments in Trump’s criminal trial won’t happen until after Memorial Day because of issues that arose over the weekend.
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Lawfare’s Anna Bower wrote from inside the courtroom:
First of all, Judge Moqian thanked all parties for arriving in advance. He said there were some issues over the weekend.
Because of some of these issues, it’s clear that we won’t be able to do the sum tomorrow.
“This week we will be finishing up evidence, pre-charge conferences, etc.,” Judge Merchan continued.
After the long weekend, we will have closing arguments next week.
We will now discuss the issues surrounding possible evidentiary objections during the continued cross-examination of Michael Cohen.
Prosecutors objected to the introduction of a 2018 email sent to Michael Cohen by Robert Costello’s law partner.
The new timetable means the jury may not hear the case until sometime in June without any further issues or delays.
June is important because Trump will debate President Biden on June 27. And sailed smoothly through the news cycle.
The longer the case goes on, the greater the risk that Trump will go directly from the court to the debate stage. It’s possible Trump could hold a sentencing hearing instead of debating President Biden, or Trump could move from a debate into a sentencing hearing.
The longer this trial lasts, the more likely it is to affect the presidential campaign timeline.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a member of the White House press corps and a congressional reporter for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a BA in Political Science. His graduate work focuses on public policy, particularly social reform movements.
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