Topline
Manhattan prosecutors opposed President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to have his conviction on 34 felony counts thrown out because of his presidential win, but said in a filing Tuesday they would be fine with his sentencing being delayed until after Trump leaves office—or just ending the case without him ever being sentenced at all.
Former President Donald Trump appears for his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 28 … [+]
Key Facts
Trump is trying to have his conviction thrown out based on “presidential immunity,” saying that the legal process against him has to end now that he’s been elected president.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case, said in a filing Tuesday it does not believe the charges should be thrown out and thinks Trump should still be sentenced, arguing Trump has no immunity now before he takes office, and that even when he’s in the White House, that still doesn’t “justify the extreme remedy of discarding the jury’s unanimous guilty verdict and wiping out the already-completed phases of this criminal proceeding.”
That being said, prosecutors said they agree that if Trump isn’t sentenced by the time he takes office—as will likely be the case—they agree he should receive “accommodations” that keep him from facing the criminal proceedings while in the White House, but the court could find a way to keep his guilty verdict intact without disrupting his presidency or throwing out the verdict entirely.
One way would be to postpone Trump’s sentencing until after he leaves office, prosecutors said, echoing an argument they’d made in a previous filing, meaning Trump would not be sentenced until at least 2029.
Another alternative would be to use a process courts have followed in the past when defendants have died before being sentenced, prosecutors proposed.
In that case, the verdict against Trump would stand but the case would end without him ever getting sentenced; instead, it would just be noted in the case’s record “that the jury verdict removed the presumption of innocence; that defendant was never sentenced; and that his conviction was neither affirmed nor reversed on appeal because of presidential immunity.”
What To Watch For
Judge Juan Merchan, who’s overseeing the case, is still deliberating on whether to grant Trump’s multiple requests to throw his conviction out. In addition to arguing his impending presidency should lead the case to be dismissed, Trump has also argued that it should be thrown out based on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling giving him some immunity from criminal charges. Prosecutors have also opposed that request, saying the conduct at issue in the indictment isn’t within the scope of his official duties, which, under the Supreme Court’s ruling, means it can still be prosecuted. Even if some of the evidence in the case concerned official acts, prosecutors argued, their case was still strong enough for Trump to have been convicted without it. It’s unclear when and how Merchan will rule, though it will likely be before Trump takes office. Even if Merchan does uphold the conviction and rule Trump could still be sentenced, however, with just weeks to go before Trump’s inauguration, it’s unlikely Trump’s sentencing would take place at this point before he goes to the White House, given the short timeline.
Chief Critic
Trump’s transition team has not yet responded to a request for comment on the DA office’s filing, but Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and broadly decried the criminal cases against him as “witch hunts.” The president-elect has broadly argued his election should nullify all the legal proceedings against him, and his spokesperson Steven Cheung previously praised Merchan’s ruling postponing Trump’s sentencing as a “decisive win” for the president-elect.
Key Background
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May following a weekslong trial, becoming the first sitting or former president to be convicted of a crime. He was indicted based on hush money payments his ex-attorney made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election, which Trump then reimbursed Cohen for through a series of checks paid throughout 2017. Prosecutors successfully argued those payments were falsely labeled as being for legal services. While Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced in July, his lawyers managed to postpone the sentencing until after the election in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling granting him some immunity. The sentencing date was pushed to September and then until November 26, as Merchan ruled he would delay it until after the election in order to avoid any perception of political bias. The judge then put the sentencing on hold indefinitely in late November in order to give Trump time to argue for the verdict to be thrown out. The delay comes as Trump broadly managed to postpone his other criminal trials from taking place before the election, and as his two federal criminal cases have been formally dismissed.
Tangent
The only other criminal case against Trump that’s still active is his criminal case in Georgia, where he faces charges tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump’s lawyers are also seeking to have those charges dismissed due to Trump’s election, but the court has not yet ruled on their request. Even if the case against Trump does stand, it’s likely to be put on pause until after Trump leaves office.
