| | | Trump Launches Another Panicked Bid to Get Out of Hush-Money Fallout
Donald Trump continues to refuse to accept the consequences of his actions.
newrepublic.com
Donald Trump is (unsurprisingly) trying to get out of his sentencing hearing for the 34 felony counts in his hush-money case.
In a 17-page filing Monday, Trump’s lawyers announced that the president-elect would seek an automatic stay on his sentencing, challenging New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s rejection of presidential immunity claims.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States required a stay of all trial proceedings, as Trump had been granted presidential immunity for official acts. They also argued that Merchan had wrongly denied Trump’s request to have the verdict dismissed on those same grounds.
“Due to the fact that further criminal proceedings are automatically stayed by operation of federal constitutional law, the Court will lack authority to proceed with sentencing, must therefore immediately vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all proceedings in the case until the conclusion of President Trump’s appeal on Presidential immunity,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
The lawyers requested a response from the court on whether they intend to proceed with the sentencing by the end of Monday.
Last week, Merchan ordered that Trump attend a sentencing hearing on January 10, a little more than a week before his inauguration. Merchan made clear in his order that he did not plan to levy a sentence of jail time, fines, or probation against the president-elect. Instead, Merchan said he plans to sentence Trump with “unconditional discharge,” which means he will receive no punishment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg responded Monday in a 16-page filing, urging the judge not to postpone Trump’s sentencing. Bragg’s office argued that Trump’s claim that presidential immunity should spare him from trial proceedings was moot, considering that the trial itself ended several months ago, and emphasized Merchan’s intention to give an “unconditional discharge.”
“There is no risk here of an ‘extended proceeding’ that impairs the discharge of defendant’s official duties—duties he does not possess before January 20, 2025 in any event,” Bragg wrote.
Over the weekend, Trump published several angry posts ranting against the “RIGGED” case and claiming his innocence—to which a jury of his peers did not agree.
“I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department, an attack on their political opponent, ME!” Trump wrote.
Lodged within Trump’s diatribes, the president-elect signaled his hopes to use his conviction as the pretext for a new authoritarian rule.
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