Prosecutor fights Trump bid to throw out hush money conviction

Manhattan prosecutors renewed their opposition Tuesday to President-elect Donald Trump’s efforts to quash his hush money conviction, but accepted pausing the case while he is president.

Trump has long opposed the criminal process brought against him after he paid a porn star for her silence and then covered up the payments in an effort to boost his chances in 2016’s election.

Juan Merchan, the judge in the only criminal case against Trump that has gone to trial, indefinitely postponed Trump’s sentencing at a hearing on 22 November, given his win in the 5 November presidential election.

The court “should reject defendant’s motion to ‘immediately’ dismiss the indictment and vacate the jury’s guilty verdict based on the outcome of the recent presidential election,” prosecutor Alvin Bragg said in a court filing.

Trump’s legal team had earlier cited a landmark July ruling from the Supreme Court that gives presidents sweeping immunity for official acts committed while in office as justification for their request to throw out this conviction.

But prosecutors accepted Trump should receive special treatment to prevent the case interfering with his second White House stint.

“Multiple accommodations well short of dismissal... would satisfy that objective, including a stay of proceedings during his term in office,” the filing said.

Prosecutors argued that Trump’s bid to have the case thrown out was “well beyond” what was needed to protect the presidency.

Merchan will now have to decide whether to throw out the case entirely, or to suspend any legal consequences until after the end of Trump’s upcoming term in office, which will begin on 20 January.

Bragg had argued during the hush money trial that Trump’s payments were made to cover up a scandal that would have hurt his 2016 campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton, whom he ultimately beat.

Trump has consistently denied having an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.

New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office on Tuesday weighed in on another legal case facing the president-elect.

Last month, Trump’s lawyers asked James to quash a civil judgment against him for fraud and a $464 million penalty “for the greater good of the country” as he prepares to return to power.

In a letter to Trump’s lawyer John Sauer published on social media, New York Deputy Solicitor General Judith Vale denied the request.

“Your letter presents no basis for this office to seek to vacate the final judgement or dismiss this action,” it read in part.