Judge Merchan to let Trump file motion to dismiss, further pushing off sentencing

Judge Juan Merchan on Friday said he is going to let Donald Trump file a motion to dismiss the hush money case in which the president-elect was found guilty, in a move that further pushes off a possible sentencing that had been tentatively set for next week.

In his order, Merchan set deadlines of Dec. 2, for Trump’s motion, and Dec. 9, for the prosecution’s response, and he agreed to pause moving forward toward sentencing in the meantime.

Trump’s lawyers argued in a letter to the judge on Tuesday that immediate dismissal of the case is required “to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power” as the president-elect prepares his return to the White House in January. They asked Merchan for permission to file a formal dismissal motion by Dec. 20, noting that that’s after special counsel Jack Smith’s position to the courts in Trump’s two federal cases is due on Dec. 2.

Those federal cases were all but doomed upon Trump’s election victory, but trickier questions remain in his two state cases in New York and Georgia, because presidents can’t get state cases dismissed or pardon them away. Criminal actions aren’t likely to proceed against Trump while he’s in office, but one of the lingering questions is whether the state cases might be deferred until Trump leaves office.

“As in those [federal] cases, dismissal is necessary here,” Trump’s lawyers argued in the pre-motion letter to Merchan. Those lawyers are Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, both of whom Trump named for high-ranking Justice Department positions in his incoming administration. “Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” they wrote.  

Merchan was previously set to decide whether to overturn Trump’s guilty verdicts due to the Supreme Court’s July 1 immunity ruling in the federal election interference case. In May, a state court jury in Manhattan found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. He was set for sentencing on July 11, but before that could happen, his lawyers cited the high court ruling to try and overturn the verdicts and dismiss the case.

Merchan subsequently delayed the sentencing, most recently to a tentative Nov. 26 date, which could have gone forward only if he had ruled against Trump’s immunity motion. Even then, Trump’s lawyers had signaled that they intended to appeal an adverse immunity ruling immediately pre-sentencing, so the Nov. 26 sentencing date was far from certain even before this latest action. Now Merchan has to rule on both the motion to dismiss and the motion to overturn the verdicts before any sentencing can proceed.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed that Trump should be able to litigate the new dismissal issue while further proceedings are paused, but he signaled that his office would oppose the effort to dismiss. His office asked the judge that their response to Trump’s forthcoming dismissal motion be due Dec. 9, sooner than Trump’s Dec. 20 deadline request for his motion. Merchan’s scheduling order is in line with Bragg’s request.

A filing from Bragg to Merchan floated the possibility of continuing proceedings after Trump leaves office, a difficult question whose answer becomes more pressing as we approach Trump’s inauguration in January without a sentence.

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