Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office are proposing a four-year hold on sentencing President-elect Donald Trump in the highly criticized business records case, which many legal minds have argued was politically motivated from its inception. Trump’s transition team is touting victory.
The New York Times reported that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office advocated for a freeze in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday, responding to Trump’s efforts to get the convictions thrown out:
“The people deeply respect the office of the president, are mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency, and acknowledge that defendant’s inauguration will raise unprecedented legal questions,” prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office wrote to the judge, Juan M. Merchan. “We also deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system.”
Eager to clear his criminal record, Mr. Trump is now expected to move forcefully for a dismissal, setting in motion a legal battle that could shadow his second presidential term and ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court. That fight will almost certainly further delay Mr. Trump’s sentencing, which was scheduled for next week.
Steven Cheung, Trump’s incoming White House communications director, quickly issued a statement saying this move by prosecutors marks a “victory for President Trump,” adding that the effort to dismiss the convictions in the case continues.
“This is a total and definitive victory for President Trump and the American People who elected him in a landslide,” Cheung said.
“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue. The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all,” he added.
A source close to Trump’s legal team told Breitbart News on the condition of anonymity that the “case is effectively dead.”
Merchan last week rescheduled ruling on motions to set aside the convictions, which Breitbart News senior legal contributor Ken Klukowski noted could be either a positive for Trump or the beginnings of a trap as the president-elect’s team works to get the case moved to federal court:
But one of two things is happening, and it is not clear which. One is positive for the president, the other presents a challenge.
On one hand, perhaps Merchan could see the handwriting on the wall. This lawfare was election interference and it failed. Trump was elected to a second term in a modern landslide, with unified government. This prosecution was and is unlawful and so are the convictions, and this pause could be the first step in landing the plane. Bragg and Merchan have been beaten, and they should know it.
On the other hand, this could be an attempt to trap the president. Until Merchan enters final judgment in the case, there are only a few ways to get this case away from him and into a court that will follow the law. If he could freeze the case where it is now, he could wait until after President Trump’s second term, then pull Trump back into his courtroom after January 2029 and attempt to imprison Trump as a private citizen for the rest of his life.
The president has options, but only a few. And his lawyers are currently trying to exercise one such option.
That route is to remove this prosecution to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1442. While the facts alleged against Trump in the charge are for a time before he was president — 2016, specifically — some of the (absurd) evidence introduced against him is from his time the White House, courtesy of disgraced convicted criminal liar Michael Cohen.
Needless to say, all eyes will be on Merchan and his decision on Trump’s motions to set aside the convictions and on the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s push to freeze the sentencing until he leaves office.
“This is a major positive development for President Trump,” said Klukowski in reaction to today’s filing. “While the president still needs to have his invalid convictions reversed and the case dismissed, this now provides his lawyers with time to navigate.”
“First, they [have] breathing room to argue to the Second Circuit federal appeals court that this whole matter should be take[n] away from Merchan and removed to federal court,” he added. “And second, it allows time for alternative moved if Merchan does not rule on the pending motions in a timely manner.”
“The president is out of imminent danger, and that was the most pressing item,” Klukowski concluded. “President Trump is having a good day.”
The cases are People v. Trump, No. 71543/23 in the Supreme Court of New York County, and New York v. Trump, No. 24-2299 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
