Donald Trump files motion to dismiss hush money case, citing election victory and Hunter Biden pardon
3 December 2024, 21:41 | Updated: 3 December 2024, 22:12
Donald Trump's Lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the hush money case he was convicted in, citing his election victory as the reason.
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In May, the President-elect was convicted in New York of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Trump was found guilty in May of concealing a hush-money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election.
"President Donald J. Trump respectfully submits this motion to dismiss the Indictment and vacate the jury’s verdicts...," his lawyers wrote in an official motion to dismiss submitted to the court on Monday.
"The Presidential immunity doctrine, the Presidential Transition Act, and the Supremacy Clause all require that result, and they require it immediately."
Alongside his election victory, Trump's team pointed to President Joe Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter earlier this week.
"Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’" they said.
"President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’"
The former US President had pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts, and denied any sexual encounter with Daniels.
His team claims the case is "based on a contrived, defective, and unprecedented legal theory relating to 2017 entries in documents that were maintained hundreds of miles away from the White House where President Trump was running the country.
"There are no ‘aggravating factors’ here, other than those arising from DANY’s misconduct," they said.
"Thus, this case should never have been brought, particularly during a period when DA Bragg’s failure to protect this City from pervasive violent crime frightens, threatens, and harms New Yorkers on a daily basis."
The case "would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement established under his leadership, and the political threat that he poses to entrenched, corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C. and beyond," his lawyers claim.
Earlier this week, prosecutors indicated that they are open to putting the case on hold, perhaps as long as he is in office, but they do not want it to be scrapped altogether.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, has said the solution needs to balance the obligations of the presidency with "the sanctity of the jury verdict".
Mr Bragg's office declined to comment on Friday's ruling. Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung hailed it as "a decisive win" for Mr Trump.
This comes after Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, in an unprecedented U-turn that could see him avoid a possible prison sentence in relation to federal gun and tax charges.
The Democratic president had previously stated he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence in relation to his convictions in two cases in Delaware and California between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024.
Sunday night's decision marked an apparent change of heart for the president, who had previously said "Hunter was treated differently" in relation to cases but vowed to respect the outcome of the US justice system.
The charges against Hunter Biden, which date back to 2018, relate to the purchase of a gun and a more recent conviction for tax evasion."
Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted," Mr. Biden said in a statement Sunday night.
