Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office filed a legal brief calling on Judge Juan Merchan not to throw President-elect Donald Trump guilty verdict in the Manhattan criminal case, which offers alternative options to keep the case on ice until after Trump’s second administration.
“There is no president-elect immunity. And even after the inauguration, the defendant’s temporary immunity as a sitting president will still not justify the extreme remedy of rejecting the jury’s unanimous guilty verdict and wiping out the already completed stages of these criminal proceedings.” reads Tuesday’s lawsuit from Bragg’s office.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of forgery business records in the Manhattan case in May. Bragg’s office sought to prove that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to suppress her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and has repeatedly spoken out against it as an example of litigation promoted by Democrats in an effort to damage his election efforts ahead of November.
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Former President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower on Thursday, May 30, 2024, after being found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
Trump’s sentencing in the case has been repeatedly postponed. Trump’s lawyers had asked Merchan to overturn the former president’s guilty verdict after the Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have significant immunity from prosecution for official actions while in office, but not for unofficial actions. Merchan has not yet ruled on the immunity argument.
Bragg’s office acknowledged in its Tuesday filing that Trump cannot be convicted as president, but argued that Mérchan has several options to keep the case on ice until 2029 and convict Trump after his second presidential administration.
“The (N)o principle of immunity precludes further proceedings before the inauguration of the defendant. And even if adjudication has not been entered by the time of the defendant’s inauguration, there is no legal barrier to delaying sentencing until after the defendant’s term has expired,” the filing said. .
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg leaves Daniel Penny’s trial at the Manhattan Supreme Criminal Court building in New York City on Monday, December 2, 2024. (Julia Bonavita/Fox News Digital)
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The district attorney’s office argued that a stay of proceedings in the case would release the former and incoming president “from any immediate liabilities in this case during his term in office, while at the same time safeguarding the public interest in upholding the rule of law and preservation of the rule of law would be respected. the meaningful aspects of the criminal trial that have already occurred.” The district attorney’s office had already called for a delay in the case after the election, with Tuesday’s filing doubling down on that argument.
“The people certainly do not dispute that presidential immunity requires accommodation during a president’s term in office. But the extreme remedy of dismissing the indictment and reversing the jury’s verdict is not warranted in light of several alternative accommodations that would entirely address the concerns. raised by presidential immunity,” their filing said.
Judge Juan Merchan, left, and President-elect Donald Trump. (AP)
Bragg’s office also alleged that Merchan could use a legal procedure known as abatement, a practice used in states such as Alabama when a suspect dies after a conviction but before sentencing. In those cases, the state can uphold the conviction but halt other legal proceedings.
Trump spokesman Steven Chueng on Tuesday labeled the filing “a pathetic attempt to salvage the remnants of an unconstitutional and politically motivated hoax.”
Following Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris last month, Trump officials exclusively told Fox News Digital that the matter was “effectively over” as Bragg asked for a stay until 2029.
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“Prosecutors are trying to save face,” a Trump official told Fox News Digital. “They know this case will be dismissed soon.”
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singerman contributed to this report.
