- Donald Trump complained about being stuck in court for his criminal trial instead of campaigning.
- His lawyers reportedly decided not to accept the stipulations.
- He could speed things up and get away with stipulating basic facts.
With the 2024 election underway, Donald Trump is expected to spend most of the next six weeks in downtown Manhattan, far from any swing states.
Trump lamented that his ongoing criminal trial — on 34 counts of falsifying business records — was hurting his campaign to win back the presidency. He has scheduled events across the country on Wednesday, the day of the week when the trial is not scheduled.
“This is a trial that should never have happened,” the former president told reporters in the courtroom hallway Tuesday morning, before the second day of jury selection, adding: “I should being right now in Pennsylvania, Florida, many other countries.” United States, in North Carolina and Georgia, in the countryside.
Trump also complained to reporters that the judge did not immediately rule on his request to take the day off to testify at his son Barron’s high school graduation ceremony in May.
But there is a simple way for Trump to speed things up: agree to the stipulations.
In any lawsuit, the parties have the opportunity to specify a certain set of facts. This saves lawyers from having to present witnesses and present evidence that establishes things that are not really in dispute.
“Trials can be largely boring, and the interesting part can be about 10 percent of what happens. And it is not uncommon for the parties to stipulate the admissibility of undisputed evidence or even certain facts that are not in question, so that to avoid having to call unnecessary witnesses,” explained the former prosecutor of Manhattan, Mark Bederow.
Trump’s current trial, for example, centers on his secret payments to Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump about a decade before he became president.
The payments were facilitated by Trump’s former personal lawyer and former fixer Michael Cohen, who worked with Trump to keep Daniels quiet about the alleged relationship before the 2016 presidential election, according to prosecutors from the District Attorney’s Office from Manhattan.
According to the Washington Post, Trump’s legal team decided not to stipulate anything and fight for everything.
In the Daniels saga, there are several issues that Trump may want to challenge.
Perhaps his lawyers will deny that this affair took place. Perhaps he will say that Cohen was acting on his own when he facilitated the payments to Daniels, an adult film actress whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
But there are also many facts that are not really in dispute. Like the fact that Cohen worked as Trump’s personal lawyer in 2016. Or that Daniels and Trump knew each other.
(Daniels and Trump were photographed together in 2006, and Daniels attended a Trump vodka event the following year.)
If Trump were to stipulate these facts – and others – then the lawyers involved in the case could save a lot of time by not needing to establish these basic details in court.
Judges are generally satisfied when both sides in a dispute work out the details. This means they have to decide fewer disputes and everything can move forward more quickly.
While this stipulation can certainly speed up court proceedings, Trump has the legal right to “put people through probation,” Bederow, a criminal defense attorney, told Business Insider.
“It adds to the boredom factor and, from Trump’s point of view, it adds to the length and is consistent with his approach, which is to fight every conceivable point under the sun, no matter how big, small , relevant or not,” he said.
That may be “frustrating” for the court from a practical standpoint, Bederow said, but Trump “has the right to do it.”
“He has the right to use every mechanism under the rules of evidence to demand that they prove their case,” Bederow said.
But the idea that Trump is complaining that his lawsuit prevents him from participating in the campaign trial, when his own lawyers’ reported strategy is to slow things down by not stipulating anything, is a “perfect illustration”, said Bederow, “in my opinion. the conflict between the criminal defendant Trump and the Republican candidate Trump.
“The longer the case goes on, the duller it is, and the less exotic testimony there is, the less connection it has to the central issues — the defense may think that’s helpful,” Bederow said.
But, the former prosecutor added, this tactic can only go so far.
“To the extent that the purpose of the exercise was to delay the election until after the election, that ship has sailed,” Bederow said.
“Even if there is a delay in complying with these provisions, we are talking at worst a few days,” Bederow said. “That’s not going to solve his problem.”
Trump’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on their lunch break Tuesday.
Spokespeople for the district attorney’s office also did not immediately respond.
businessinsider
