Trump trial postponed by bomb threat

A Manhattan judge again dismissed attempts by former President Donald Trump’s attorneys to delay the New York Attorney General’s case against him — saying the October hearing date was “in carved in stone”.

Officials conducted a “search” of the 60 Center St. courthouse and cleared it of any threats after bomb threats were made against that venue, the Manhattan Attorney’s Office at nearby One Hogan Place and other locations via 911, court officials said.

“As if this case alone wasn’t exciting enough, there was a disruption this morning, but as far as I know everyone is here and ready to go,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron said after the hearing before the courtroom- Gallery started 20 minutes late.

The disruption came in anticipation of Trump, 76, being indicted by a grand jury that has been hearing evidence from prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office for weeks.

When asked if Trump was mentioned in the bogus bomb threat, a state court spokesman said, “Not that I know of.”

Lawyers for the former president, his firm, the Trump Organization, and his three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump, are trying in court to postpone the Oct. 2 trial date that Engoron previously agreed to for $250 million from AG Letitia James had fixed civil fraud charges against her.

Trump’s lawyers argued at length about needing more time to prepare the trial and asked for the date to be rescheduled.

But at the end of the hearing, Engoron said, “I don’t want to hear requests for more time for the trial date. That’s set in stone.”

In September, the AG’s office filed suit against Trump’s defendants, accusing them of “harrowing fraud” in corporate business — specifically, alleging that Trump exaggerated his assets in financial reports in order to obtain better credit and insurance terms.

Earlier in the hearing, Engoron said the case was “complex but not complicated. It all boils down to whether the financial statements are true or false.”

When he asked for the trial to be extended, Trump attorney Chris Kise said they were overwhelmed with information the AG office had turned over from 700,000 documents totaling 2.6 million pages that he said would take 11,000 hours to comb through .

“The whole world is watching this courtroom,” Kise said. “That’s because everyone wants to see and hear all the facts, and that’s what we want.”

Kise said they had to take 20 more statements and denied the Trump camp was delaying the case.

Engoron said he would allow Trump’s side to make 10 more statements – in addition to the 10 they had already made.

Kise also dismissed allegations that the Trump defendants were seeking grand jury information about the possible indictment of Trump, which have been looming over the past week.

“We’re not looking for grand jury material,” Kise assured Engoron and the AG’s office attorneys.

Law enforcement officials have said they are preparing for the possible consequences if Trump is arrested in connection with hush money payments allegedly made on his behalf to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to silence them about her and the then-presidential candidate’s alleged claims to bring affair.

Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, urged his supporters to come out and protest if he is arrested.