Trump lawyers, seeking to dismiss hush money case, blast DA for ‘bully tactics’

The only way forward in Donald Trump’s criminality silent money case in New York is overturning his conviction and dismissing the case before Trump took office, the president-elect’s lawyers argued in a court filing unsealed Friday.

Trump’s lawyers, responding to a court filing revealed Wednesday Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg rejected any of Bragg’s proposals to preserve the president-elect’s sentence while respecting the office of the presidency, accusing Bragg of proposing “bully tactics” such as delaying Trump’s sentencing until 2029.

“(A) suspension would require President Trump to lead the country while facing the constant threat that this Court and the DANY will be prepared to impose imprisonment, fines and other punishments as soon as he leaves office,” the document says. “To be clear, President Trump will never deviate from the public interest in response to these thuggish tactics.”

Trump’s lawyers also described a plan proposed by Bragg to reduce Trump’s sentence – a mechanism typically used when a defendant has died while a case is pending – as “unhinged” and “extremely troubling.”

“As a further illustration of District Attorney Bragg’s desperation to avoid legally ordered dismissal, DANY proposes that the Court pretend as if one of the assassination attempts against President Trump had been successful,” wrote Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, whom Trump has nominated for higher positions in the Justice Department.

Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to improve her electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election, but her sentencing in the case was postponed indefinitely after your choice. . Trump’s lawyers have argued that the entire case should be dismissed because a sitting president is immune from prosecution.

In their filing earlier this week, prosecutors proposed three alternative options to preserve Trump’s sentence while respecting the ban on prosecuting presidents, including delaying sentencing until 2029, reducing the sentence, which would end the case but would preserve the record of his conviction. or sentence Trump to a punishment that does not include imprisonment.

Trump’s lawyers rejected each option as unconstitutional and called the case politically motivated, taking the unusual step of citing in the presentation’s introduction a Truth Social post by Sen. John Fetterman where the Pennsylvania Democrat called the case an example. of “turning the judiciary into a weapon”.

“District Attorney Bragg’s interest in keeping jury verdicts as a notch on any belt he plans to wear at campaign events in 2025 is not a basis for interfering with the Executive Branch,” the document said.

Trump’s lawyers argued that delaying sentencing until Trump leaves office in 2029 would unfairly require Trump to serve as president while the threat of possible imprisonment hangs over him.

“Stopping the procedure during President Trump’s second term would impede the presidency and give New York County intolerable influence over the executive branch, which exists for the protection of the entire nation,” the document says.

The filing argued that prosecutors’ proposal to reduce the case would violate Trump’s right to appeal, and sentencing Trump to anything other than prison or jail would still be a “serious and impermissible” danger to the duties of the presidency.

“One would expect more from a first-year law student, and this is another indication that DANY’s opposition to this motion has not been made in good faith,” Trump’s lawyers said of the reduction idea.

The filing took on an overtly political tone, repeatedly referencing Bragg’s 2025 run and accusing the district attorney of politicizing the case “to defend his poor record.”

“It is very clear at this point that the DANY will say and do anything, including urging the Court to ignore the Constitution, the New York Court of Appeals and the Second Circuit, to try to make this abomination stand,” he says the document. saying.