Manhattan DA and Judge Are Hell-Bent on Continuing Lawfare Against Trump
The Democrat judge presiding over the sham New York criminal case against Donald Trump remains adamant that the president-elect appear for sentencing on Friday — a mere ten days before Trump takes his oath of office.
On Monday, Trump’s legal team filed a two-fold motion seeking the stay of the January 10, 2025 sentencing hearing that Judge Juan Merchan ordered to proceed in an 18-page opinion he issued on Friday. In that opinion, Judge Merchan denied the president-elect’s Motion to Vacate the Jury Verdict and Motion to Dismiss the 38-count indictment a grand jury returned against Trump related to payments made to Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s motion argued first that the proceedings against him were automatically stayed during the pendency of his forthcoming appeal related to presidential immunity. Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision last term on presidential immunity, Trump’s legal team argued in Monday’s Motion to Stay that no further proceedings could take place until the issue of immunity was resolved by an appellate court.
Second, and alternatively, attorneys for the president-elect argued that even if a stay were not required under federal law, Judge Merchan should stay the proceedings under New York law.
Unsurprisingly, by day’s end on Monday, Judge Merchan had denied Trump’s request for a stay. The denial came in a perfunctory two-page order: After noting that D.A. Alvin Bragg had opposed the stay, Judge Merchan reasoned that a stay was inappropriate because Trump was merely repeating the arguments he had raised previously. The Manhattan trial judge then concluded that the precedent on which Trump relied to seek a stay was either distinguishable or inapplicable. (Read more from “Manhattan DA and Judge Are Hell-Bent on Continuing Lawfare Against Trump” HERE)
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr
