Judge Juan Merchan on Friday indefinitely postponed President-elect Donald Trump’s November 26 sentencing in the Manhattan hush money case and granted Trump’s legal team permission to file a motion seeking dismissal of his conviction.
It’s effectively the end of the prosecutions of Trump, which critics had called political “lawfare.”
Trump’s attorneys must submit their dismissal motion by December 2, citing constitutional grounds, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and “interests of justice” following Trump’s election victory.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has until December 9 to respond.
The judge also agreed to delay ruling on presidential immunity issues until after reviewing the new filings. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called Merchan’s decision a “decisive win” for the president-elect.
The case, which resulted in Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, has faced multiple delays.
The sentencing was originally scheduled for July but was postponed twice after Supreme Court immunity decisions prompted new legal challenges.
Bragg’s office has acknowledged in a letter to Judge Merchan that Trump is unlikely to be sentenced “until after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term.”
A source close to the district attorney’s office indicated they are open to a four-year — or perhaps longer — pause in the case.
The December 2 deadline coincides with required filings in federal courts regarding two criminal cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, as the Department of Justice has announced they’re unwinding those cases following Trump’s election.