NEW YORK – As prosecutors push to preserve President-elect Donald Trump’s historic hush money conviction, his lawyers urged a judge Wednesday to ignore them and scrap the case before he takes office in January.
Echoing their stance since Trump's win, his lawyers argued in a letter that continuing with the case will interfere with the president-elect's preparations for returning to the White House and impede his ability to run the country.
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The lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, said voters' decision to return Trump to office should take precedence over the opinion of prosecutors, known in court-speak as the "People of the State of New York."
“The Nation’s People issued a mandate that supersedes the motivations of (the district attorney’s) ‘People,’” Blanche and Bove wrote to Judge Juan M. Merchan. “This case must immediately be dismissed.”
Otherwise, they warned, protracted appeals would overlap with Trump’s second term.
Trump, a Republican, has tapped Blanche and Bove for high-ranking Justice Department jobs.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to squelch a story of extramarital sex. Trump denies the allegations.
In a court filing Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office opposed dismissing Trump’s case, but prosecutors expressed openness to delaying his sentencing until after his forthcoming term.
“We have significant competing constitutional interests — the office of the presidency and all the complications that come with that, and on the other hand, the sanctity of the jury verdict," D.A. Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, said Wednesday while speaking to the Citizens Crime Commission, a local civic group.
Trump's lawyers plan to file more paperwork formalizing their latest request to dismiss what they call a “politically-motivated and fatally flawed” case.
They asked that their submission be due Dec. 20 so they can see what special counsel Jack Smith says in the coming weeks about winding down two federal cases against Trump.
Merchan hasn't set a deadline for such a filing, nor for his eventual ruling.
In the meantime, the case is effectively on hold. Trump's sentencing, which had been set for Nov. 26, will not go on as scheduled.
A dismissal would erase Trump’s conviction, the first of a former U.S. president. If the verdict stands and the case proceeds to sentencing, Trump could face a fine, probation or up to four years in prison.
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.