Donald Trump has filed a motion to dismiss the secret money case against him after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter.
The president-elect's lawyers on Monday asked a judge to throw out his criminal conviction, claiming the ongoing legal case would disrupt his presidency.
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The former and incoming president was put on trial earlier this year by Bragg's office on charges of falsifying business records related to secret money payments to adults. film Star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
He was convicted of 34 felony counts for allegedly paying Daniels to keep her from appearing in public before the 2016 election over the couple's alleged sexual contact in 2015.
Trump's then-lawyer oversaw the payment of $130,000 to Daniels, which prosecutors said was falsified in business records, as compensation for his legal services.
He and his lawyers say the payments to his former attorney were correctly classified as legal expenses for legal work.
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U-shaped shock
Trump's team has long called for the case to be dismissed, and Biden's sudden about-face on his son's crimes gave them another opportunity to do so.
Biden announced his surprise decision on Sunday to issue a 10-year pardon to his son Hunter covering any crimes over the past decade despite previously saying he would not grant his son such a pardon.
The president claimed he made the decision after his son was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” and “treated differently” because of his last name in what the White House called a “war.” policy“.
Hunter was convicted of federal weapons charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges.
In response to the pardon, Trump not only called it a “miscarriage of justice,” but his lawyers used Biden's own comments to move to dismiss Trump's secret money case.
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who were appointed to the top spot Jobs In the new White House administration, they argued that Biden condemned his own Justice Department.
“President Biden said raw politics infected this process and led to a miscarriage of justice,” the lawyers wrote in the filing.
To show his distrust of the system, lawyers say New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg also participated in similar “political events.” stageOr what the White House called “war politics” in Trump’s conviction.
The president-elect's sentencing was postponed indefinitely after Trump won the presidential election last month to allow the defense and prosecution to argue the matter. future From this case.
In a filing released Tuesday, Republican lawyers called for Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan to be removed over his landslide victory on November 5, 2024.
The history of Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump is at the center of a hush-hush financial trial regarding his alleged affair with porn star, Stormy Daniels, in July 2006. Trump, through his former lawyer Michael Cohen, is accused of falsifying business records and funneling $130,000 to Stormy Daniels. Before the 2016 presidential election to silence her about the alleged affair.
July 2006: Trump and Daniels met at the American Celebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
Daniels testified on May 7, 2024, that at that time, Trump's bodyguard, Keith Schiller, approached her and told her that the real estate mogul wanted to have dinner with her.
-Daniels said she declined, but Schiller gave her his contact information.
After consulting with her team, Daniels said she met Trump for dinner in his hotel room.
-Daniels testified in court that after dinner, the two had consensual sex in his room.
– Donald Trump has repeatedly denied having an affair with Stormy Daniels.
In the months and years that followed, Daniels said she maintained a relationship with Trump, meeting him at bars, social clubs and events.
January 2007: Daniels and Trump reunited at a party in Los Angeles, which he sponsored, where she said she met Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who also claims to have had an affair with the former president.
On that day, Daniels said Trump repeatedly offered her to go home with him that night, but she refused.
June 2007: Nearly a year into the supposed relationship, Daniels said Trump invited her to his Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss a possible appearance on his television show The Apprentice, an appearance she never made.
June 2007 was the last time Daniels said she saw Trump, but she remained in contact by phone.
April 2011: Stormy Daniels considered selling her account of her supposed affair with Trump to a publishing company for $15,000.
– Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, obtained the potential article and intervened. Daniels was not paid.
October 2011: Gossip website The Dirty reported that Daniels and Trump had sex after the golf tournament.
July 2016: Trump received the Republican Party's presidential nomination.
October 2016: Daniels, with the help of her attorney, discussed going public with the alleged affair with the editor of The National Enquirer.
Later that month, Cohen wired $130,000 to Stormy Daniels as a potential hush-money payment.
November 2016: Trump wins the presidential elections.
January 2018The Wall Street Journal reported that Stormy Daniels received a payment of $130,000 from Cohen in the days before the 2016 presidential election.
Later that month, Daniels publicly denied having an affair with Trump.
April 2018: The FBI issued a search warrant for Michael Cohen.
August 2018Cohen pleads guilty in federal courtroom.
March 2021: The Manhattan District Attorney opened an investigation into the alleged money deal involving Trump.
March 2023: A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records arising from Daniels' hush money payment.
April 2024: Trump's criminal trial begins in a midtown Manhattan courtroom.
They added, “President Trump's status as president-elect and soon-to-be president presents a legal impediment to continuing criminal proceedings based on the doctrine of presidential immunity (established by the Supreme Court last summer) and the supremacy clause.” books.
Trump's lawyers have supported this argument by using special counsel Jack Smith as an example.
After the election, he dropped two federal cases he had filed against Trump last year because of the Justice Department's policy that it could not criminally prosecute a sitting president.
“Even Smith was forced to acknowledge, by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, that President Trump’s status as president-elect dictated that unfair prosecutions against him be dismissed,” they wrote.
An ongoing battle
But the district attorney's office told CNN there is no current law that says a case must be dismissed when it is in post-trial proceedings and is initiated before immunity kicks in.
The Attorney General's Office stated: “There is no current law providing that the president's temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was commenced at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution, and that is based on official conduct that warrants and that the defendant is not “fortunate.”
Prosecutors will have until December 9 to respond to the motion to dismiss, although the district attorney's office has already said it will oppose any effort to dismiss the case.
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The prosecution even indicated that it might postpone sentencing until after Trump finishes his second term in 2029.
Trump's lawyers said in their court filings that postponing the ruling for four years is a ridiculous idea.
“With respect to presidential immunity, it would be egregious and unlawful for this court to expect a 2029 ruling on President Trump’s head while he continues to serve the president,” they said. This country“.
The lawyers added that Trump's acquittal would also allow him to set aside everything he had energy To protect the nation.
Trump's team has repeatedly fought to get the case decided as the former president continues to deny any wrongdoing.
He vowed to appeal the ruling if the case is not dismissed after this new attempt by his team to cancel the case.
If the case is dismissed, it would erase Trump's historic conviction that made him the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
It also saw the first convicted felon elected to office.
The dismissal would also completely exempt him from a prison sentence of up to four years behind bars.
But it is unlikely if the case continues that he will receive that prison sentence because it would be his first conviction on lower-level felony charges.
Punishment will likely range from a fine to probation.
Because it is a state case, Trump will not be able to pardon himself from conviction once he returns to office on January 20.
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