- Lawyers for Donald Trump on Wednesday demanded the immediate dismissal of his hush-money case.
- Trump can’t be sentenced while either president-elect or president, they argued.
- Manhattan prosecutors are meanwhile pushing forward, saying they’ll sentence him in 2029 if need be.
Donald Trump’s legal team filed for immediate dismissal of his New York hush-money case on Wednesday, arguing that he cannot be sentenced while either president-elect or president.
The orderly transition of power is at stake, his lawyers argue.
“Immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interest of justice, in order to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential election,” his lawyers wrote.
The three-page filing is the latest volley in a battle over when, or whether, Trump will be sentenced on his conviction six months ago on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“On November 5, 2024, the Nation’s People issued a mandate that supersedes the political motivations of DANY’s ‘People,'” the defense filing concludes, using the acronym for the District Attorney of New York.
The filing was signed by the lead defense attorneys for the hush-money case, Todd Blanche, now Trump’s pick for deputy attorney general, and Emil Bove, his pick for principal associate deputy attorney general.
It comes one day after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced in a letter that he intends to continue opposing any move to dismiss the case, regardless of Trump’s election.
“The People deeply respect the Office of the President, are mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency, and acknowledge that Defendant’s inauguration will raise unprecedented legal questions,” Bragg wrote.
“We also deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system,” he wrote, adding that even if Trump could not be sentenced before he takes office, he could still be sentenced afterward.
Wednesday’s filing responds forcefully to that show of persistence by Bragg, with the often-repeated defense claim that the prosecution is “politically-motivated.” Bragg is a Democrat.
One prosecutor should not have “practical power to interfere with the ability of a popularly elected president to carry out his constitutional functions,” the defense filing says.
“This interest attaches to the ongoing transition activities, which are ‘an integral part of the presidential administration,'” the defense filing adds, citing a 2000 Department of Justice memo barring the prosecution of sitting presidents.
The cited memo makes no specific mention of whether this protection from prosecution should extend to presidents-elect.
Trump’s defense team is asking the judge in the case, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, to let the defense file a longer brief by December 20, just one month before Inauguration Day.
That date would be nearly two weeks further into the transition than prosecutors hoped. Bragg on Tuesday asked that motions on dismissal be completed by both sides by December 9.
A Manhattan jury found in May that Trump conspired with others throughout his first year in office to hide checks, invoices, and other records for a $130,000 payment that silenced porn actress Stormy Daniels less than two weeks before the 2016 election.
Among other penalties, he faces as little as no time in jail, and as much as four years in prison, though former New York City judges have said it is highly unlikely that a septuagenarian, first-time offender would get any jail time on a non-violent, low-level felony. Any sentence would almost certainly be placed on hold while he appeals, the former judges also said.
In the half-year since his guilty verdict, Trump’s sentencing, originally set for July, has repeatedly been postponed as the defense pursued so-far unsuccessful efforts to get the judge recused, to dismiss the case, and to transfer it to federal court.
The most recent delays were occasioned by the presidential campaign and the US Supreme Court’s landmark July decision granting presidents broad immunity from prosecution for official acts.
The judge did not immediately respond Wednesday to Trump’s request. Last week, he ordered a freeze on all pre-sentencing calendar deadlines, and on the November 26 sentencing date itself so that a battle over dismissal could proceed.
