Politics

/

ArcaMax

NYC judge delays decision on Trump's immunity motion in hush money case

Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on

Published in Political News

NEW YORK — A Manhattan judge has delayed a highly anticipated decision and sentencing in Donald Trump’s hush money case following his election victory at the request of the president-elect’s lawyers and the Manhattan district attorney, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan granted a joint motion to postpone his decision on Trump’s request to throw out the guilty verdicts against him and other deadlines — putting the whole case on ice — until Nov. 19, according to email correspondence between his clerk and the parties uploaded to the case’s docket.

The clerk said that was the deadline for the DA’s office to advise Merchan of the appropriate next steps amid a Friday request from Trump’s team to prosecutors that asked them to agree to delay proceedings and consider moving to drop the case now that Trump has been reelected.

“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo wrote to the court in an email Sunday morning.

The prosecutor said the next steps required “careful consideration” to appropriately balance the competing interests of a jury’s verdicts finding Trump guilty of felonies and “the office of the president.”

In an email to Merchan following Colangelo’s on Sunday, Trump lawyer Emil Bove said, “There are strong reasons for the requested (pause), and eventual dismissal of the case in the interests of justice,” citing the Supreme Court’s immunity decision and the Presidential Transition Act of 1963.

Bove said federal prosecutors from the Department of Justice had recently sought and obtained the same relief in Trump’s federal election subversion and classified documents cases, “and they are reportedly considering dismissing both of their prosecutions.”

“The (pause), and dismissal, are necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern,” Bove wrote, adding that was the broader argument the defense made to the DA Friday that prosecutors are considering, which has not been made public.

With the case now on pause, Trump’s sentencing, set for Nov. 26, is in limbo. Merchan previously said he would sentence him on that date after ruling on the immunity motion “if necessary.”

Trump’s outstanding immunity motion asks Merchan to set aside the verdicts and dismiss the underlying indictment by arguing that the July immunity decision by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority — which granted presidents sweeping protections from criminal prosecution — barred the Manhattan DA’s office from showing evidence at trial relating to his “official acts.”

 

The decision also barred prosecutors from presenting evidence related to a president’s “official acts” to prove personal acts were illegal.

Among the “official acts” Trump argues were out-of-bounds were tweets from his presidential Twitter account about his former fixer Michael Cohen and testimony concerning private conversations with former White House staffers, including his communications director, Hope Hicks.

Prosecutors have opposed the effort, underscoring that the crimes Trump was found guilty of committing were related to his personal life and not his presidency. They have argued that even if the Supreme Court decision — which came down after Trump was found guilty — meant they improperly showed some evidence to the jury, the evidence of his guilt was, regardless, “overwhelming.”

An anonymous Manhattan jury delivered the guilty verdicts on May 30, finding Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records tied to his secret payback to Cohen for silencing Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Prosecutors argued at trial that the hundreds of thousands of dollars Trump issued to Cohen in 2017 in Sharpie-signed checks were falsely logged as payment for “legal services” to cover up an illicit scheme to hide information from voters.

The historic case was the first of four brought against Trump after his first term in office and likely the only one to see a jury’s conclusion on the front end of his second term.

Outside of the winding-down federal cases, the racketeering case against Trump in Georgia, in which he’s accused of election subversion efforts alongside Rudy Giuliani and more than a dozen others, has stalled significantly, and legal experts say it’s unlikely he will go on trial in Fulton County in the next four years.

The Manhattan DA’s office and Trump’s lawyers declined to comment.

_____


©2024 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Andy Marlette Dana Summers David M. Hitch Jack Ohman Bill Bramhall David Horsey