The Manhattan district attorney’s office does not believe President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal conviction should be thrown out after his election, they argued in a court filing—but will allow Trump’s sentencing to be postponed, potentially until after he leaves office—as the fate of Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges hangs in the balance following his electoral win.
Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during the second day of his criminal trial at ... [+]
Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s office filed a letter with the court Tuesday proposing how the case should proceed, saying that Trump is expected to ask the court to dismiss the verdict against him and prosecutors will oppose that request.
They will allow the case to be delayed while Trump litigates his effort to throw out the verdict, however, which means his scheduled sentencing on Nov. 26 is likely to be indefinitely postponed.
Prosecutors asked Judge Juan Merchan to pause the criminal case last week following Trump’s electoral win, saying they needed time to “assess these recent developments” and propose their “view of appropriate steps going forward.”
While Trump intends to argue the charges should be thrown out because he has immunity from prosecution as a sitting president, prosecutors argued there’s nothing in the law that suggests presidents are immune from a post-trial criminal proceeding that originated before the president took office and is based on unofficial conduct outside the scope of the president’s official duties.
The court just needs to “balance competing constitutional interests” and determine a path forward for the prosecution “in a manner that preserves both the independence of the Executive and the integrity of the criminal justice system.”
Prosecutors said there must be “consideration” given to options that wouldn’t dismiss Trump’s charges entirely, like deferring the sentencing until after Trump leaves office.
It’s still unclear how Trump’s conviction will move forward, which will be up to Merchan to decide. The judge has not given a timeline for when he will rule on the case’s next steps.
Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records in May following a weekslong trial, becoming the first sitting or former president to be criminally convicted. The charges are based on a hush money payment Trump’s ex-attorney Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, which Trump reimbursed Cohen for through a series of payments made throughout 2017. Prosecutors alleged, and a jury agreed, that those payments were falsely labeled as being for legal services. While Trump’s hush money case is the only one of his criminal cases that moved forward to trial before the election, the case stalled after he was found guilty, as the initial July sentencing date was postponed twice, first to September and then until after the election. Merchan agreed with Trump’s request to delay the hearing until after the election, arguing he wanted to avoid any perception of political bias. Trump being elected president then threw the sentencing once again into doubt, however, with Tuesday’s filing becoming the first indication of how the case would move forward.
Trump’s election has also doomed his other criminal cases, as the president-elect still faces three sets of criminal charges that have not yet gone to trial. The two federal cases against Trump—for trying to overturn the 2020 election and allegedly withholding White House documents—are expected to end before Inauguration Day. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who’s overseeing those investigations, is reportedly planning to resign before Trump takes office, and has said the Justice Department will follow its practice of not prosecuting sitting presidents. Trump’s other state case in Georgia, for trying to overturn the 2020 election, is likely to be paused during Trump’s second term, meaning the soonest it could go to trial is 2029—though other charges against his associates would likely go to trial while Trump is in office.