Donald Trump files motion to dismiss hush money case due to election victory after Hunter Biden pardon
DONALD Trump has filed a motion to dismiss the hush money case against him after President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter.
On Monday, the President-elect's lawyers requested a judge throw out his criminal conviction claiming that the ongoing legal case would disrupt his presidency.
The former and incoming president was prosecuted earlier this year by Bragg's office for falsifying business records regarding hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
He was convicted of 34 felony counts for allegedly paying Daniels money to prevent her from going public ahead of the 2016 election about the pair's alleged sexual liaison in 2015.
Trump's then-lawyer oversaw a payment of $130,000 to Daniels which the prosecution argued was falsified in business records as a repayment to him for his legal services.
He and his lawyers argue that the payments to his former lawyer were properly categorized as legal expenses for legal work.
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SHOCK U-TURN
Trump's team have long argued for a dismissal of the case and Biden's shock U-turn about his son's crimes have given them another opportunity to do so.
Biden announced his bombshell decision on Sunday to issue a 10-year pardon for his son Hunter covering any crimes over the past decade despite previously saying he would not give his son such clemency.
The President claimed that he came to this decision after his son was "selectively and unfairly prosecuted" and "treated differently" due to his last name in what the White House has called "war politics."
Hunter was convicted of federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges.
In response to the pardon, Trump not only called it a "miscarriage of justice," but his lawyers used Biden's own comments to move for Trump's hush money case to be dismissed.
Attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who have both been appointed top jobs in the new White House administration, have argued that Biden has condemned his own Justice Department.
- On that day, Daniels said Trump repeatedly propositioned her to go home with him that night, but she declined.
June 2007: Nearly a year after the supposed affair, Daniels said Trump invited her to his bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss her possible appearance on his television show, The Apprentice - an appearance she never made.
- June 2007 was the last time Daniels said she saw Trump, but stayed in contact over the phone.
April 2011: Stormy Daniels considered selling her account of her supposed affair with Trump to a publishing company for $15,000.
- Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, got hold of the potential article and intervened. Daniels was not paid.
October 2011: The gossip website The Dirty reported that Daniels and Trump allegedly had sex after a golf tournament.
July 2016: Trump secured the Republican Party's presidential nomination.
October 2016: Daniels, with the assistance of her attorney, discussed going public about the supposed affair with the editor of the tabloid The National Enquirer.
- Later that month, Cohen wired $130,000 to Stormy Daniels in a potential hush money payment.
November 2016: Trump wins the presidential election.
January 2018: The Wall Street Journal reported that Stormy Daniels received a $130,000 hush money payment from Cohen in the days before the 2016 presidential election.
- Later that month, Daniels publicly denied having an affair with Trump.
April 2018: The FBI executed a search warrant on Michael Cohen.
August 2018: Cohen pleads guilty in a federal courtroom.
March 2021: The Manhattan District Attorney opened an investigation into the supposed hush money deal involving Trump.
March 2023: Trump is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from Daniels' hush money payment.
April 2024: Trump's criminal trial starts in a downtown Manhattan courtroom.
"President Trump's status as President-elect and the soon-to-be-sitting President is a 'legal impediment' to further criminal proceedings based on the Presidential immunity doctrine (established by the Supreme Court last summer) and the Supremacy clause," they wrote.
Trump's attorneys backed up this argument by using Special Counsel Jack Smith as an example.
The DA's Office stated: "No current law established that a president's temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on official conduct for which the defendant is also not immune."
Prosecutors will have until December 9 to respond to the dismissal request though the DA's office has already said it will oppose any effort to have the case thrown out.
The prosecution has even suggested they may delay the sentencing until after Trump ends his second term in 2029.
Trump's lawyers argued in their court filing that putting off sentencing for four years is a ridiculous notion.
They said: "With respect to Presidential immunity, it would be egregious and unlawful for this Court to hold the prospect of a 2029 sentencing over President Trump's head while he continues his service to this Country."
Clearing Trump, the lawyers added, would also allow him to devote all of his energy to protecting the Nation.
Trump's team has repeatedly fought for a dismissal in the case as the former president continues to deny any wrongdoing.
He has pledged to appeal the verdict if the case is not dismissed after this new attempt by his team to have the case thrown out.
If the case is dismissed, it would erase Trump's historic conviction which saw him become the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
It has also seen the first convicted criminal be elected to office.
A dismissal would also entirely spare him a possible prison sentence of up to four years behind bars.
But, it is unlikely if the case continues that he would get this prison sentence as it would be a first-time conviction with charges of the lowest tier of felonies.
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The punishment would likely range from a fine to probation.
As it is a state case, Trump will not be able to pardon himself from the conviction once he returns to office on January 20.