Manhattan prosecutors urged a judge to reject Donald Trump's motion to dismiss criminal charges related to a hush money payment, saying the former president is trying to use his political power to evade accountability.
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Prosecutors also said while investigating the hush money case this year that they gleaned new information from "campaign insiders" that support their allegation of Trump's guilt in the hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels and its subsequent cover-up.
Last month, Trump filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on a number of grounds, including alleging it was brought six years after the alleged cover up in an effort to interfere with the 2024 presidential election.
The New York district attorney's office urged Judge Juan Merchan to reject the argument and apply the law equally.
"Defendant repeatedly suggests that because he is a current presidential candidate, the ordinary rules for criminal law and procedure should be applied differently here," the district attorney's office wrote. "This argument is essentially an attempt to evade criminal responsibility because the defendant is politically powerful."
The DA also said that Trump has not lived up to his obligations in providing documents to them as they prepare for trial, which is scheduled for March 2024. Among the issues, prosecutors say, is whether Trump will call any expert witnesses in campaign finance, which was discussed as a potential defense during a pre-indictment meeting earlier this year.
Trump was charged in March with falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime in what prosecutors allege was a cover up scheme to hide reimbursement payments made to Michael Cohen who paid hush money to Daniels to stop her from going public about a past affair with Trump. before the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 charges and denied the affair.