Donald Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case has been postponed indefinitely and New York’s Jude Juan Merchan has opened the door to dismissing the charges.
It was the latest stunning turnaround in the case, which would see Trump sentenced before the election following his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying financial records.
That conviction, which could have resulted in four years in prison, was postponed. Now that he is about to take office as the 47th president, Trump’s team wants the case dismissed entirely as their client, the first former president convicted of a crime, is about to take power.
Underscoring the peculiarities of the case, Trump attorney Todd Blanche, who pushed for the case to be dismissed, has now been nominated as the No. 2 official at the Justice Department.
“Just as a sitting president is completely immune from any criminal proceedings, so too is President Trump as president-elect,” attorney Todd Blanche and attorney Emil Bove, who has also been nominated for a top position at the DOJ, wrote in a filing with Judge Merchan. .
It came after Trump’s lawyers wrote that the judge called for an ‘immediate dismissal’ the ‘federal constitution, the presidential transition law of 1963 and the importance of justice.’
It is necessary to ensure an “orderly transition of power,” the filing continued.
Merchan granted Donald Trump permission to request a dismissal of his hush-money criminal case, in which he was found guilty earlier this year, in light of his victory in the November 5 US presidential election.
Trump, 78, was scheduled to be sentenced on November 26. But prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office earlier this week asked New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan to consider delaying all proceedings in the case until after Trump completes his four trials . year-long presidential term beginning January 20.
Judge Juan Merchan has set a date for Donald Trump’s lawyers to argue for the dismissal of his hush money case
Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, have argued that the case should be dismissed because hanging it over him while he was president would create what they called “unconstitutional barriers” to his ability to govern.
Bragg’s office said they would argue against dismissal but agreed that Trump deserved time to argue his case through written motions.
Merchan on Friday set a December 2 deadline for Trump to file his motion to dismiss, giving prosecutors until December 9 to respond.