March 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission

asked a federal court in Seattle to delay a September trial in

its case alleging Amazon ( AMZN ) misled consumers over its Prime

subscription service, citing "severe resource shortfalls in

terms of both money and personnel," on Wednesday.

Jonathan Cohen, an attorney for the FTC, told U.S. District

Judge John Chun during a hearing that the agency is facing a

"dire resource situation" amid cost cutting measures enacted

under President Donald Trump's administration.

"We have lost employees in the agency, in our division

and on our case team," Cohen said.

Some employees on the case took a resignation offer

sent out in January

, and others resigned for other reasons, or are scheduled to

be on leave during the trial, and their positions cannot be

filled due to a hiring freeze, Cohen said.

Cohen also cited new spending restrictions limiting FTC

attorneys to purchasing transcripts of court proceedings and

depositions on the slowest delivery schedule, which carries the

cheapest rate but can take weeks to arrive.

The judge asked the FTC to put in writing its request to

delay the trial to later in the fall.