DONALD Trump has filed a motion to dismiss the hush money case against him after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter.
The President-elect’s lawyers have asked a judge on Monday to dismiss his criminal conviction, arguing that the continuing legal proceedings would interfere with his upcoming presidency.
The former and incoming president was prosecuted earlier this year by Bragg’s office for falsifying business records regarding hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
He was convicted of 34 felony counts for allegedly paying Daniels money to prevent her from going public ahead of the 2016 election about the pair’s alleged sexual liaison in 2015.
Trump’s then-lawyer oversaw a payment of $130,000 to Daniels which the prosecution argued was falsified in business records as a repayment to him for his legal services.
He and his lawyers argue that the payments to his former lawyer were properly categorized as legal expenses for legal work.
SHOCK U-TURN
Trump’s team have long argued for a dismissal of the case and Biden’s shock U-turn about his son’s crimes have given them another opportunity to do so.
Biden announced his bombshell decision on Sunday to issue a 10-year pardon for his son Hunter covering any crimes over the past decade despite previously saying he would not give his son such clemency.
The President claimed that he came to this decision after his son was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” and “treated differently” due to his last name in what the White House has called “war politics.”
Hunter was convicted of federal gun 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 for Trump’s hush money case to be dismissed.
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who have both been appointed top jobs in the new White House administration, have argued that Biden has condemned his own Justice Department.
“President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice,'” the attorneys wrote in the filing.
In showing his lack of trust in the system, the lawyers argue that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg has also taken part in similar “political theatre” or what the White House has called “war politics” in the conviction of Trump.
The President-elect’s sentencing was indefinitely postponed after Trump won the presidential election last month to allow the defense and prosecution to argue over the future of the case.
In a filing made public on Tuesday, the Republican’s lawyers argued for a dismissal to Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan because of his overwhelming victory on November 5, 2024.
The history of Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump is at the center of a hush money trial in connection with his alleged affair with porn star, Stormy Daniels, in July 2006. Trump, through his former attorney Michael Cohen, is accused of falsifying business records and wiring $130,000 to Stormy Daniels months 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 the time, Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, approached her and told her the real estate tycoon 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 at his penthouse 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 was sponsoring, and there she said she met Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model who also claims to have had an affair with the former president.
– On that day, Daniels said Trump repeatedly propositioned her to go home with him that night, but she declined.
June 2007: Nearly a year after the supposed affair, Daniels said Trump invited her to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss her 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 stayed in contact over the 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 attorney, Michael Cohen, got hold of the potential article and intervened. Daniels was not paid.
October 2011: The gossip website The Dirty reported that Daniels and Trump allegedly had sex after a golf tournament.
July 2016: Trump secured the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.
October 2016: Daniels, with the assistance of her attorney, discussed going public about the supposed affair with the editor of the tabloid The National Enquirer.
– Later that month, Cohen wired $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in a potential hush money payment.
November 2016: Trump wins the presidential election.
January 2018: The Wall Street Journal reported that Stormy Daniels received a $130,000 hush money payment 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 executed a search warrant on Michael Cohen.
August 2018: Cohen pleads guilty in a federal courtroom.
March 2021: The Manhattan District Attorney opened an investigation into the supposed hush money deal involving Trump.
March 2023: Trump is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from Daniels’ hush money payment.
April 2024: Trump’s criminal trial starts in a downtown Manhattan courtroom.
“President Trump’s status as President-elect and the soon-to-be-sitting President is a ‘legal impediment’ to further criminal proceedings based on the Presidential immunity doctrine (established by the Supreme Court last summer) and the Supremacy clause,” they wrote.
Trump’s attorneys backed up this argument by using Special Counsel Jack Smith as an example.
After the election, he dropped two federal cases he had brought against Trump last year due to Justice Department policy that it cannot criminally pursue a sitting president.
They wrote: “Even (Smith) has been forced to concede, by DOJ’S Office of Legal Counsel, that President Trump’s status as President-elect mandates dismissal of the unjust prosecutions pending against him.”
ONGOING BATTLE
But, the DA’s office told CNN that no current law declares that a dismissal of a case must be given when it is in post-trial proceedings and was set in motion before the immunity began.
The DA’s Office stated: “No current law established that a president’s temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on official conduct for which the defendant is also not immune.”
Prosecutors will have until December 9 to respond to the dismissal request though the DA’s office has already said it will oppose any effort to have the case thrown out.
The prosecution has even suggested they may delay the sentencing until after Trump ends his second term in 2029.
Trump’s lawyers argued in their court filing that putting off sentencing for four years is a ridiculous notion.
They said: “With respect to Presidential immunity, it would be egregious and unlawful for this Court to hold the prospect of a 2029 sentencing over President Trump’s head while he continues his service to this Country.”
Clearing Trump, the lawyers added, would also allow him to devote all of his energy to protecting the Nation.
Trump’s team has repeatedly fought for a dismissal in the case as the former president continues to deny any wrongdoing.
He has pledged to appeal the verdict if the case is not dismissed after this new attempt by his team to have the case thrown out.
If the case is dismissed, it would erase Trump’s historic conviction which saw him become the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
It has also seen the first convicted criminal be elected to office.
A dismissal would also entirely spare him a possible prison sentence of up to four years behind bars.
But, it is unlikely if the case continues that he would get this prison sentence as it would be a first-time conviction with charges of the lowest tier of felonies.
The punishment would likely range from a fine to probation.
As it is a state case, Trump will not be able to pardon himself from the conviction once he returns to office on January 20.
