New York Judge, Juan M. Merchan has put off a key ruling and paused the proceedings in President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case as his lawyers argued for dismissing it so he can run the country.
Merchan was expected to rule today, Tuesday, November 12, 2024, on an earlier request to throw out Trump’s conviction under the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year granting Presidents immunity for official acts.
Instead, the Judge told Trump’s lawyers he’d halt proceedings and delay the ruling until at least November 19, 2024, so that prosecutors can give their view of what to do in light of the former and future President’s election win last week.
It was reported that Merchan halted proceedings in Donald Trump’s hush money case after a request from the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, who cited the former President’s victory in the presidential election.
Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors had agreed in recent days to the one-week postponement, according to emails filed in court on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote that because of the “unprecedented circumstances,” prosecutors need to consider how to balance the “competing interests” of the jury’s verdict and the presidency.
A jury convicted Trump in May of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to porn actor, Stormy Daniels in 2016. The payout was to buy her silence about claims that she had sex with Trump.
Trump says they didn’t have sex, denies any wrongdoing and maintains the prosecution was a political tactic meant to harm his latest campaign as Trump is a Republican.
Meanwhile, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the case, is a Democrat, as is Merchan.
Trump had been scheduled to be sentenced on November 2, 2024.
Just over a month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-Presidents can’t be prosecuted for actions they took in the course of running the country, and prosecutors can’t cite those actions even to bolster a case centered on purely personal conduct.
Trump’s lawyers cited that ruling to argue that the hush money jury got some evidence it shouldn’t have, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form and testimony from some White House aides.
Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “a sliver” of their case.
Trump has been fighting for months to overturn the verdict. While urging Merchan to throw out the conviction, the President-elect also has been trying to move the case to federal court.
Before the election, a federal judge repeatedly said no to the move, but Trump has appealed.
Trump Campaign Spokesperson Hails Ruling Delay
Trump campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung heralded the delay.
He said that the President-elect’s win makes it “abundantly clear that Americans want an immediate end to the weaponization of our justice system, including this case, which should have never been filed.”
Trump lawyer Emil Bove, meanwhile, argued that throwing out the case is “necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern.”
Trump faces three other unrelated indictments in various jurisdictions.
However, U.S Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith has been reportedly evaluating how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case against Trump before he takes office.
Longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted.
Meanwhile, a Georgia election interference case against Trump is largely on hold while he and other defendants appeal a Judge’s ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting it.
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