By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — A day after New York prosecutors said they will fight efforts to dismiss Donald Trump’s hush money conviction, the president-elect’s lawyers urged a judge to ignore them and dispose of the case before he takes office in January.
Echoing their arguments since Trump’s win, his lawyers said in a letter Wednesday to Judge Juan M. Merchan that continuing with the case will interfere with Trump’s preparations for returning to the White House and impede his ability to run the country.
The lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, said they will file paperwork formalizing their dismissal request and asked Merchan for a deadline of Dec. 20, after Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team is expected to disclose the next steps it intends to take in two federal cases against Trump.
Blanche and Bove urged Merchan to heed the will of the voters who returned Trump to office rather than the word of prosecutors, who are often referred to in court proceedings and filings as representing the “People of the State of New York.”
“On November 5, 2024 the Nation’s People issued a mandate that supersedes the motivations of (the district attorney’s) ‘People,’” Blanche and Bove wrote. “This case must immediately be dismissed.”
They warned of protracted appeals overlapping with Trump’s second term if what they deemed a “politically-motivated and fatally flawed” case isn’t dispatched urgently.
Trump has tapped both Blanche and Bove for high-ranking Justice Department jobs.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to squelch a story of extramarital sex. Trump denies the allegations.
In a court filing Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said it opposes any effort to dismiss Trump’s case, but did express openness to potentially delaying his sentencing until after his second term.
D.A. Alvin Bragg’s office said in that Trump’s looming presidency isn’t grounds for dropping a case that was already decided by a jury.
But, citing “the need to balance competing constitutional interests,” prosecutors said “consideration must be given” to pausing the case and delaying Trump’s sentencing until after he’s out of office.
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“We have significant competing constitutional interests — the office of the presidency and all the complications that come with that, and on the other hand, the sanctity of the jury verdict,” Bragg said Wednesday while speaking today to the Citizens Crime Commission, a New York City civic group.
Bragg reiterated that if Merchan sets a schedule for further filings, prosecutors “anticipate that we won’t oppose” such a pause.
Prosecutors have sought an even more accelerated schedule than the defense for hashing out the dismissal issue. In their filing Tuesday, they suggested the defense file its paperwork in the next week or two so they could submit their response by Dec. 9.
Merchan hasn’t set a schedule, nor has he said when he will rule.
In the meantime, the case is effectively on hold. Trump’s sentencing, which had been set for Nov. 26, will not go on as scheduled.
A dismissal would erase Trump’s conviction, the first of a former and now future U.S. president. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump’s punishments would range from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.