In a significant development in the hush money case against former President Donald Trump, a paralegal from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office they testified on Friday that prosecutors deleted evidence without informing Trump’s legal team.
According to reports, paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider was questioned by Trump attorney Emil Bove about three pages of 2018 phone records between convicted liar Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Keith Davidson that Bragg’s office had deleted.
The altered call records were submitted into evidence but Trump’s lawyers were not notified about the missing pages. Additional phone records between Daniels’ manager Gina Rodriguez and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard regarding Daniels’ alleged affair claims were also reportedly deleted.
Tampering with evidence is a class E felony in New York, defined as suppressing physical evidence by concealment, alteration or destruction with the intent to prevent its use in an official proceeding.
Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. called the developments “insanity” on X, questioning why it wouldn’t be considered a felony committed by Bragg and his team.
Trump’s defense also made a motion for a mistrial which was denied by a politically-motivated Judge Juan Merchan. The judge further limited the testimony of former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith on campaign finance issues, which some argue hinders Trump’s defense.
Bragg, who ran for office on targeting Trump, indicted the former president in April 2023 on 34 felony charges for allegedly falsifying business records related to the hush money payment to Daniels.
