Donald Trump's lawyers have just 24 hours to hand over evidence to prosecutors or risk seeing it banned from the former president's criminal hush money trial, according to a reporter inside the courtroom.
New York City Judge Juan Merchan set the deadline Monday after Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass said Trump's attorneys had failed to turn over any of the exhibits they plan to use in the former president's defense, according to Law 360 reporter Stewart Bishop.
Trump's legal team was ordered to do so back in February, Bishop notes.
This demand spurred outrage from Todd Blanche, who complained to Merchan that 24 hours was not enough time to prepare the hand-over amid ongoing jury selection preparation, according to Bishop.
It was a wry Merchan that reminded Trump of their many filings delivered in the weeks before the trial — which include multiple failed efforts to delay the trial and toss the charges — and one whirlwind 30-minute period that saw Trump's lawyers file three motions.
“The way you choose to use your time is your business,” Merchan reportedly told Blanche.
This wasn't the first time Monday that Blanche's antics rubbed Merchan the wrong way: earlier in the day he barked out an order that Blanche "sit."
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Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Monday became the first of three prosecutors to take to trial a criminal case against the former president.
Special Counsel Jack Smith has accused Trump of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and illegally hoarding classified documents in his Florida social club, Mar-a-Lago. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Wills accuses Trump of election racketeering charges in Georgia.
Despite the high stakes of the highly publicized trial, reporters in the courtroom Monday said Trump appeared sleepy.
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