NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s criminal conviction on charges stemming from hush money paid to an adult film star must stand despite his victory in the Nov 5 US presidential election, prosecutors said in urging a judge to deny his bid to dismiss the case.
In a court filing made public on Tuesday, prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said Trump should receive “temporary accommodations” to make sure the case does not interfere with his presidency, but called wiping out the jury’s verdict an “extreme remedy.”
“President-elect immunity does not exist,” prosecutors wrote.
“The overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt and the critical importance of preserving public confidence in the criminal justice system, among many other factors, weigh heavily against dismissal.”
Justice Juan Merchan has not said when he will rule on Trump’s bid to dismiss the charges.
In urging the judge to vacate the guilty verdict and toss the charges, Trump’s lawyers last week said having the case hang over him after he takes office on Jan 20 would improperly impede his ability to govern.
The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a US president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
Merchan last month delayed Trump’s previously scheduled Nov 26 sentencing indefinitely to give him the chance to seek dismissal. Bragg’s office has suggested he defer all proceedings in the case until Trump, 78, is due to leave the White House in 2029.
In their motion to dismiss, Trump’s lawyers called that suggestion “ridiculous.”
They said that would mean sentencing would happen more than a decade after the investigation started in 2018.
Trump was charged in three other state and federal criminal cases in 2023, one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. The Justice Department moved to dismiss the two federal cases after Trump’s election victory.
Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024
