By MICHAEL R. SISAK and JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — A day after New York prosecutors said they would oppose efforts to throw out Donald Trump’s hush money conviction, the president-elect’s lawyers urged a judge to ignore them and settle the matter before he takes office in January.
Echoing their arguments since Trump’s victory, his lawyers said in a letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan on Wednesday that continuing the case would interfere with Trump’s preparations for his return to the White House and hamper his ability to lead the country.
The lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, said they would file documents formalizing their request for dismissal and asked Merchan for a deadline of Dec. 20, after special counsel Jack Smith’s team is expected to disclose the next steps that she plans to take on in two federal cases. against Trump.
Blanche and Bove urged Merchan to heed the will of the voters who re-elected Trump to office rather than the word of prosecutors, who are often referred to in court proceedings and filings as representing the “people of the State of New York.”
They warned of prolonged appeals that would overlap with Trump’s second term if what they saw as a “politically motivated and fatally flawed” case was not addressed urgently.
“On November 5, 2024, the people of the nation issued a mandate that supersedes the motivations of the (prosecutor’s) ‘people,’” Blanche and Bove wrote. “This case must be immediately dismissed.”
Trump tapped Blanche and Bove for high-ranking positions at the Justice Department.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to conceal a scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying money to cover up a story of extramarital sex. Trump denies these allegations.
In a court filing Tuesday, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it opposed any attempt to dismiss Trump’s case, but said it was open to potentially delaying his sentencing until ‘at the end of his second term.
Prosecutor Alvin Bragg’s office said Trump’s impending presidency was no reason to drop a case already decided by a jury.
But, citing “the need to balance competing constitutional interests,” prosecutors said “consideration should be given” to staying the case and delaying Trump’s sentencing until after he has left office.
Prosecutors, in their filing, requested an even more accelerated timetable than the defense for resolving the termination issue. They suggested the defense file its documents in a week or two so that it can submit its response by December 9.
Merchan did not set a timetable, nor did he indicate when he would govern.
In the meantime, the case is effectively suspended. Trump’s sentencing, scheduled for November 26, will not go as planned.
A dismissal would erase Trump’s conviction, the first of a former and future US president. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump’s penalties will range from a fine or probation to four years in prison.
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
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