Lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump on Friday criticized a suggestion by Manhattan prosecutors that a judge should consider an alternative to Trump's “hush money” case, which is typically used when sentencing. Before the defendant dies.
In a filing earlier this week, prosecutors said suggested Justice Juan Marchan could conclude Trump's criminal case “with the note that the jury's verdict has not been vacated and the indictment has not been dismissed.” He acknowledged that this is an option that arises when defendants die before case proceedings conclude, but called it “novel” of the dilemma of a case being interrupted after conviction by the defendant's election to the presidency. ” is called a solution.
In a response Friday, Trump attorneys Todd Blanch and Emile Bowe called that idea “untenable.” He said it was “an extremely disturbing and irresponsible exchange between President Trump – who has survived multiple assassination attempts, and soon became known as 'the only person who single-handedly creates a branch of government' – and a hypothetical dead defendant.” There is similarity.”
The filing comes as Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have sought to influence Marchan's upcoming decision on how to proceed with the case. Trump was convicted in May, but his sentencing has been repeatedly postponed and he remains president-elect in the interim.
Trump is scheduled to return to the White House on January 20.
Bragg's office says Trump's election should not undermine the verdict of the 12 jurors who found him guilty dozens of feloniesTrump's lawyers argued in filings Friday and in a motion to dismiss earlier this month that his conviction should be vacated under the Constitution, and that the case against him should be dismissed because he was elected.
“The federal Constitution, which guarantees presidential immunity, is the supreme law,” Blanch and Bove wrote in a section of their filing titled, “Presidential immunity clearly bars further proceedings.”
Prosecutors argued in their previous filing that presidential immunity does not yet apply because Trump has not yet returned to the Oval Office.
“The president-elect's immunity does not exist,” he wrote, urging Merchen to move forward with the decision before Trump's inauguration.
A unanimous jury concluded Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The verdict made Trump the first former president to be convicted of crimes. On November 5, he became the first person with a criminal record to be elected president in American history.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case and has promised to appeal his conviction if it is not dismissed.