Trump might ask for the hush money case to be dismissed and postpone sentencing

In view of his victory in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, a judge on Friday decided that Donald Trump may request the dismissal of the criminal case in which he was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts involving hush money paid to a porn star. The judge also decided to postpone Trump’s sentencing indefinitely.
The sentencing was supposed to happen on Tuesday of next week.

This week, prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg requested that Justice Juan Merchan of the New York state Supreme Court take into consideration postponing all case proceedings until after Trump, 78, concludes his four-year presidential term, which starts on January 20.

Republican Trump’s attorneys have claimed that the issue should be dropped because it would create “unconstitutional impediments” to his capacity to govern if it hung over him while he was president.

While acknowledging that Trump should be given more time to present his case through written motions, Bragg’s office stated that it will contest his discharge.

On Friday, Merchan gave prosecutors until December 9 to reply and granted Trump until December 2 to submit his motion to dismiss. The judge did not specify a new sentencing date or the length of time the case would be postponed. Additionally, the judge did not state when he would make a decision regarding Trump’s move to dismiss.

The case was a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels by Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen in exchange for her quiet prior to the 2016 election regarding a ten-year-old alleged sexual encounter with Trump, which Trump denies.

Trump was convicted by a Manhattan jury of fabricating financial documents to conceal his payment to Cohen. It was the first time a sitting or previous president of the United States has been found guilty of a crime or faced criminal charges.

Trump entered a not guilty plea in the case, which he has attempted to characterize as a Democrat Bragg’s politically motivated attempt to sabotage his presidential campaign.

“The American People have issued a mandate to return him to office and dispose of all remnants of the Witch Hunt cases,” was the statement released by Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung.

Bragg’s office representative opted not to comment.

The maximum penalty for falsifying company records is four years in prison. It was deemed unlikely, but not impossible, by analysts prior to his election that Trump would be imprisoned; instead, they believed that a fine or probation would be more likely.

Given that a sentence may have made it more difficult for Trump to carry out his presidential obligations, the idea of enforcing a jail or probationary period became even more politically sensitive and unfeasible when Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the election held on November 5.

In 2023, Trump was accused in three more state and federal cases, two of which involved his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss and one of which involved sensitive information he retained after leaving office. In each of the three cases, he entered a not guilty plea.

In July, the documents case was dismissed by a federal judge in Florida. The Justice Department is currently assessing how to conclude the case pertaining to the federal election. In Georgia, Trump is also facing state criminal charges related to his attempt to overturn his defeat in 2020, although that case is still pending.

Since the cases in Georgia and New York were brought in state courts, Trump would not be able to stop them as president. The federal cases may be closed by his Justice Department.

Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Trump’s defense attorneys in the hush money case, were nominated last week to hold prominent positions at the Justice Department during his presidency.