President-elect Donald Trump speaks to reporters alongside his attorney Todd Blanche, right, during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Monday, May 20, 2024. (Dave Sanders/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
WASHINGTON EXAMINER | Published November 20, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump is seeking the “immediate dismissal” of the New York hush money case, in which a jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts of business falsification, citing the “uniquely destabilizing” effects of sentencing an incoming president.
“As DA Bragg engages in his own election campaign, [the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office] appears to not yet be ready to dismiss this politically-motivated and fatally flawed case, which is what is mandated by the law and will happen as justice takes its course,” lawyers for Trump wrote in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan on Wednesday.
Defense lawyers pointed to special counsel Jack Smith’s recent plans to step down and dismiss the two federal criminal indictments against Trump as grounds that the state criminal case, in which Trump was accused of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to his 2016 presidential election, should also be tossed out.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied Daniels’s accusations that an affair occurred between them.
“However, DOJ is reportedly preparing to dismiss the federal cases against President Trump, and will report its final decision to federal courts on December 2, 2024. As in those cases, dismissal is necessary here,” Trump’s attorneys wrote.
Merchan has still not wiped the Nov. 26 sentencing date from the schedule, but it will be up to him to first decide Trump’s latest motions to dismiss the case.
Trump tried and failed on several occasions to dismiss the case before the trial concluded, including efforts to remove the case to federal court in search of a more favorable venue, given Manhattan’s Democratic-leaning demographics.
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SOURCE: www.washingtonexaminer.com
RELATED: Trump calls for hush money dismissal; bids to run out clock on case
Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the end of the day alongside his attorney Todd Blanche during his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 21, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
THE HILL | Published November 20, 2024
President-elect Trump’s attorneys signaled an effort to try to run out the clock on his New York hush money case, asking Judge Juan Merchan for a month to mount a formal effort to dismiss his criminal conviction in the wake of his White House victory.
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove – who Trump has named to lead the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in his Justice Department – requested permission to wait until Dec. 20 to file their motion, which would come just a month before Trump’s inauguration. Their letter was made public Wednesday.
Prosecutors want a much faster timeline.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) said in a Tuesday letter his office is open to freezing the proceedings during Trump’s presidency, but urged the judge to set a speedier schedule to resolve the matter, proposing Trump file his brief “promptly” and that prosecutors respond by Dec. 9.
The maneuverings suggest the Trump team’s intention is to delay the proceedings to make it as unlikely as possible that Merchant would sentence Trump before his inauguration. Once Trump is inaugurated, the case is almost certain to be frozen or tossed out, and there’d be no chance of such a sentencing.
Prosecutors oppose fully dismissing the case.
Trump’s lawyers said the president-elect’s victory delivered “a mandate that supersedes the political motivations” of New York prosecutors.
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