Bragg pitches post-presidency Trump sentencing in renewed push urging Judge Merchan to keep conviction alive
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office filed a legal brief calling on Justice Juan Merchan to not toss President-elect Donald Trump’s guilty verdict in the Manhattan criminal case, offering alternative options to keep the case on ice until after Trump's second administration.
"President-elect immunity does not exist. And even after the inauguration, defendant’s temporary immunity as the sitting President will still not justify the extreme remedy of discarding the jury’s unanimous guilty verdict and wiping out the already-completed phases of this criminal proceeding," the Tuesday court filing from Bragg’s office states.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the Manhattan case in May. Bragg's office worked to prove that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election to quiet her claims of an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and repeatedly railed against it as an example of lawfare promoted by Democrats in an effort to hurt his election efforts ahead of November.
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Trump’s sentencing in the case has been repeatedly delayed. Trump's lawyers had asked Merchan to overturn the former president’s guilty verdict after the Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office, but not for unofficial acts. Merchan has not yet ruled on the immunity argument.
Bragg’s office acknowledged in its Tuesday filing that Trump cannot be sentenced as president but argued Merchan has various options to keep the case on ice until 2029 and sentence Trump following his second presidential administration.
"[N]o principle of immunity precludes further proceedings before defendant’s inauguration. And even if judgment has not been entered at the time of defendant’s inauguration, there is no legal barrier to deferring sentencing until after defendant’s term of office concludes," the filing said.
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The DA’s office argued that a stay of proceedings in the case would exempt the former and upcoming president "from any immediate obligations in this case during his time in office, while at the same time respecting the public interest in upholding the rule of law and preserving the meaningful aspects of the criminal process that have already taken place." The DA's office had already called for a stay in the case following the election, with Tuesday's filing doubling down on that argument.
"To be sure, the People do not dispute that presidential immunity requires accommodation during a President’s time in office. But the extreme remedy of dismissing the indictment and vacating the jury verdict is not warranted in light of multiple alternative accommodations that would fully address the concerns raised by presidential immunity," their filing said.
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Bragg’s office also floated that Merchan could use a legal procedure known as abatement, which is a practice used in states such as Alabama when a defendant dies after a conviction, but before sentencing. In those cases, the state can preserve the conviction but halt other court proceedings.
Trump spokesman Steven Chueng slammed the filing Tuesday as "a pathetic attempt to salvage the remains of an unconstitutional and politically motivated hoax."
Following Trump’s win over Vice President Kamala Harris last month, Trump officials exclusively told Fox News Digital that the case was "effectively over" as Bragg requested a stay until 2029.
"Prosecutors are trying to save face," a Trump official told Fox News Digital. "They know this case will soon be thrown out."
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report.