President-elect Donald Trump’s legal team is pointing to a Truth Social post from Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to bolster its argument that the New York City hush money case should be thrown out entirely.
The Democratic senator drew criticism from members of his own party for the post, dated Wednesday, that declared the hush money case, which drew a felony conviction in May, was “bullshit” and called a pardon for Trump “appropriate.”
“Weaponizing the judiciary for blatant, partisan gain diminishes the collective faith in our institutions and sows further division,” Fetterman wrote. (He also said Hunter Biden should receive a pardon on gun and income tax charges, which his father, President Joe Biden, granted him last month.)
Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, attorneys for Trump, called Fetterman’s summary an “apt” one in a document made public Friday. Trump’s team had filed a lengthy brief outlining its argument for dismissal earlier this month, as the judge instructed.
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan had said he would not accept reply briefs on the issue. Blanche and Bove appear to have replied anyway, addressing arguments made by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg earlier this week. Trump’s attorneys wrote that Bragg “has no credibility left in these proceedings.”
Though the jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, his sentencing has been delayed multiple times while attorneys figure out how a new U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity may factor in. The high court ruled that presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution for “official acts” they take in office; Bragg’s office has stated that no part of the case related to official presidential acts.
The sentencing was then delayed indefinitely following Trump’s election victory.
The trial centered on a $130,000 hush money payment made to porn actor Stormy Daniels in 2016, days before the election, to keep quiet about an alleged affair. Trump maintains that the affair did not occur and that he did nothing wrong.
Attorneys for the president-elect blasted Bragg’s suggestions on how to handle the case now that Trump is set to become president again, on Jan. 20, and resume the mantle of presidential immunity.
Bragg’s team floated multiple suggestions: Merchan could freeze the case until Trump leaves office, he could take the possibility of jail time off the table or he could close the case with a notice explaining why a sentencing hearing was never held.
The last suggestion is sometimes used by courts when a defendant dies between their conviction and sentencing hearings.
Democracy In The Balance
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The mere invocation of death appeared to shock Trump’s lawyers, who said it amounted to a “dark dream.”
“As a further illustration of DA Bragg’s desperation to avoid legally mandated dismissal, [the district attorney] proposes that the Court pretend as if one of the assassination attempts against President Trump had been successful,” they wrote.
“One would expect more from a first-year law student, and this is yet
another indication that [Bragg’s] opposition to this motion has not been undertaken in good faith,” they added.