President-elect Donald Trump’s legal team filed a motion to pause Judge Juan Merchan’s sentencing in the hush money case.
“Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt. The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” incoming White House Communications Director Stevening Cheung said. “The American People elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts. We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again.”
Trump’s attorneys wrote in the court filing, “Forcing a President to continue to defend a criminal case — potentially through trial or, even more dramatically here, through sentencing and judgment — while the appellate courts are still grappling with his claim of immunity would, in fact, force that President ‘to answer for his conduct in court’ before his claim of immunity is finally adjudicated.”
“It is of no moment that the Court has suggested an intention to impose a sentence of unconditional discharge,” the filing says. “While it is indisputable that the fabricated charges in this meritless case should have never been brought, and at this point could not possibly justify a sentence more onerous than that, no sentence at all is appropriate based on numerous legal errors—including legal errors directly relating to Presidential immunity that President Trump will address in the forthcoming appeals.”
Merchan wrote last week that “all that remains outstanding in this case is the issuance of this Decision and the imposition of sentence.”
“While this Court as a matter of law must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and Defendant an opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation,” the order added.
Trump declared on Truth Social Sunday evening that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “never wanted to bring this lawless case against me. He was furious at the way it was handled, and especially angry at MARK POMERANTZ for his behavior, and what he did.”
“The Judge fabricated the facts, and the law, no different than the other New York Judicial and Prosecutorial Witch Hunts,” he said. “That’s why businesses are fleeing New York, taking with them millions of jobs, and BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TAXES. The legal system is broken, and businesses can’t take a chance in getting caught up in this quicksand. IT’S ALL RIGGED, in this case against a political opponent, ME!!!”
