Donald Trump on Tuesday urged a New York state judge to dismiss the criminal case in which a jury convicted him in May of 34 felony counts related to hush money payments to a porn star. He based his request on his victory in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Trump’s lawyers asked Justice Juan Merchan in Manhattan to vacate the guilty verdict and dismiss the charges, arguing that allowing the case to remain unresolved after Trump assumes office on Jan. 20 would interfere with his ability to govern effectively.
“Local elected officials such as D.A. Bragg have no valid basis to cause such disruptions,” defense lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a Dec. 2 court filing made public on Tuesday.
Trump nominated Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general, the Justice Department’s second-highest position, during his administration. He also nominated Bove to serve as Blanche’s top deputy and as acting deputy attorney general while Blanche awaits confirmation.
Justice Merchan delayed Trump’s previously scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing indefinitely to allow him to seek dismissal. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecutors supported delaying the sentencing to let Trump make his case but indicated they would oppose his request for dismissal. Prosecutors have until next Monday to respond.
Justice Merchan has not specified when he will rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss and has not set a new sentencing date.
Bragg’s office suggested deferring all proceedings in the case until Trump leaves the White House in 2029. Trump’s lawyers rejected the idea, calling it “ridiculous.” They argued that delaying sentencing until then would mean resolving the case more than a decade after the investigation began in 2018.
Bragg’s office declined to comment.
Hunter Biden Pardon
At the beginning of their 72-page motion, Trump’s lawyers criticized President Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, who faced gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax violations.
Blanche and Bove described Biden’s statement about his son’s alleged selective prosecution as an “extraordinary condemnation” of his Justice Department.
Trump’s defense team repeatedly accused Bragg, a Democrat, of coordinating the prosecution with the Biden administration, pointing to the involvement of Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Department official.
“This case would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views,” the lawyers wrote.
As an elected local prosecutor, Bragg operates independently of the federal Justice Department. Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, denied Republican claims that he directed Colangelo to assist Bragg in prosecuting Trump.
“I did not dispatch Mr. Colangelo anywhere,” Garland testified in Congress on June 4.
Payment to Stormy Daniels
The New York case involves a $130,000 payment that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to secure her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she claimed occurred a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounter.
A Manhattan jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. The conviction marked the first time a U.S. president, sitting or former, faced criminal charges or a guilty verdict.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In 2023, prosecutors charged Trump in three additional state and federal cases: one involving classified documents he retained after leaving office and two others linked to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Trump entered not guilty pleas in all three cases.
The Justice Department dismissed the two federal cases following Trump’s election victory.
