Investigators claim Trump is seeking to delay New York probe

New York State prosecutors accused lawyers for President Donald Trump of seeking to stall compliance with a subpoena as part of a strategy to delay an investigation into hush-money payments to a porn star.

An assistant district attorney made the charge at a court hearing Thursday in Manhattan, where a federal judge charted a path forward after the U.S. Supreme Court last week said the president did not have absolute immunity from state grand jury investigations. The case was sent back to a federal judge in Manhattan with the instruction that Trump could raise objections that any recipient of a subpoena might advance.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said at the start of the hearing that he must assess whether a subpoena on Trump’s accounting firm for financial records “is properly tailored or over-broad,” as well as whether it was motivated by a “desire to harass” the president, among other issues.

Trump’s lawyers declined to identify the specific arguments they would raise to attack the subpoena. That prompted a state prosecutor to argue that Trump is looking to delay the investigation.

“Let’s not let delay kill this case,” Assistant District Attorney Carey Dunne said at the hearing.

Dunne said the president is trying to move the case back to square one and rehash old arguments even after Trump has lost them.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is investigating hush-money payments made before the 2016 presidential election to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who claims she had an affair with Trump.

Trump will file his additional claims by July 27, and a court conference is set for Aug. 5.