Left to right: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks Tuesday April 2, 2024, at a rally in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer), Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers in New York, Thursday, March 14, 2024 (AP Photo/Seth Wenig), FILE – Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg gestures while speaking during a news conference Feb. 22, 2024, in New York (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II).
Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump would like the judge overseeing his New York City hush-money case to admit the extant proceedings are, at this point, a vestige of formality and have asked the court to help as they usher their client into the winner’s circle.
To that end, the 45th and 47th president’s two-person Manhattan legal team — both of whom are likely to soon be made members of the U.S. Department of Justice — have asked New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to allow them to file a new motion to dismiss.
“Immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interests of justice, in order to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential election,” attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a two-page letter motion filed Wednesday morning. “Therefore, we respectfully submit this premotion letter to request permission to file a motion to dismiss by December 20, 2024.”
This request is somewhat in conflict with the position taken by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. But not entirely.
On Tuesday, Bragg’s office made it clear that prosecutors intend to push forward and ask that Trump be sentenced in connection with his 34 felony convictions — after he finishes his second term as president.
In the meantime, the DA presaged the likely consensus shaping up at the trial court level: kiboshing most remaining deadlines.
Last week, Merchan paused proceedings related to immunity issues — while technically leaving the sentencing date on the calendar — by directing prosecutors to advance their “view of appropriate steps going forward.” In that order, Merchan granted a joint request from prosecutors and the defense to pause deadlines in the case.
But both sides agree there should be one more piece of business before Merchan: the defense filing its final motion to dismiss.
In a reoccurring theme of the various prosecutorial at-bats that have resulted in Trump-thrown no-hitters, however, the government wants a tighter series of deadlines while the defense wants to stretch out the last few innings and consolidate the win.
On Tuesday, Bragg asked the court to set a Dec. 9 deadline for the government to respond to the defense motion — a quick turnaround that envisioned the once-and-future president filing the new motion to dismiss sometime in late November.
On Wednesday, Trump’s attorneys asked the court to give them until Dec. 20 to file their motion to dismiss in the first place.
In the letter motion, Blanche and Bove say they expect to hear that all the pending federal cases against their client will be fully and formally dropped by the U.S. Department of Justice no later than Dec. 2.
The defense wants a month to mull their options and arguments “so that President Trump has the opportunity to address in that submission the positions taken by DOJ in the federal cases,” according to the filing.
Another area where the parties diverge is how the forthcoming motion — and concomitant government response — will be stylized.
Bragg, in his Tuesday letter to Merchan, characterized the eventual Trump motion to dismiss as yet another swing at presidential immunity.
Trump’s team, for its part, say it’s about basic justice.
“As DA Bragg engages in his own election campaign, DANY appears to not yet be ready to dismiss this politically-motivated and fatally flawed case, which is what is mandated by the law and will happen as justice takes its course,” the letter motion reads. “The Constitution forbids ‘plac[ing] into the hands of a single prosecutor and grand jury the practical power to interfere with the ability of a popularly elected President to carry out his constitutional functions.””
And, in at least one notable way, the defense is pushing for a measure of expediency — while telling Merchan he should continue to embargo his previously-anticipated but currently-stayed ruling on presidential immunity.
“The Court must address these new issues, and dismiss the case, prior to issuing a decision on the previously filed Presidential immunity motion,” Trump’s motion goes on. “Any other action would obviously violate the Presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause. Even if the Court were to wrongly deny the new interests-of-justice motion, which it should not do, the appropriate forum for any additional proceedings must first be resolved in President Trump’s removal appeal.”
The judge had been set to decide whether Trump’s convictions will stand in light of the high court’s sweeping summer immunity decision — but after the election, the judge reconsidered his schedule.
The message in the Wednesday motion: Trump won the election, so he’s not playing ball with the county prosecutor anymore.
“On November 5, 2024, the Nation’s People issued a mandate that supersedes the political motivations of [the District Attorney of New York’s] ‘People,’” the letter motion concludes. “This case must be immediately dismissed.”
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