Defence lawyers for US President-elect Donald Trump are using President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter to argue that Trump’s conviction in his Manhattan hush money case should be dismissed.
“Yesterday in issuing a 10 year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly prosecuted’ and ‘treated differently,'” Trump lawyers wrote in a motion filed on Monday.
Trump’s lawyers – Todd Blanche and Emil Bove – whom he has picked for top Justice Department posts in his new administration – argue these comments amount to a condemnation of Biden’s own Justice Department and that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg has engaged in the same kind of “political theatre.”
Bragg’s office successfully prosecuted Trump earlier this year for falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Judge Juan Merchan indefinitely postponed Trump’s sentencing in the case after Trump won reelection. Trump’s lawyers also want the conviction dismissed, but the DA’s office says it will oppose any effort to toss the case.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
