Add another “W” for President-elect Donald Trump.
On Friday, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges in his hush money case. Merchan also stopped Trump’s sentencing indefinitely, Fox News reported.
Dec. 2 is the deadline for Trump’s lawyers to file the motion for dismissal.
Manhattan District Attorney has until Dec. 9 to respond, Merchan said.
The judge also stayed Trump’s sentencing, a request made by both the prosecution and defense.
Trump was to be sentenced Nov. 26; Merchan said that date “is adjourned.”
Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, said Merchan’s ruling was a “decisive win” for the newly elected president.
“In a decisive win for President Trump, the hoax Manhattan Case is now fully stayed and sentencing is adjourned,” Cheung said. “President Trump won a landslide victory as the American People have issued a mandate to return him to office and dispose of all remnants of the Witch Hunt cases.”
Cheung added Trump can now going about the business of “Making America Great Again.”
“All of the sham lawfare attacks against President Trump are now destroyed and we are focused on Making America Great Again,” he said.
Todd Blanche, Trump defense attorney and now-nominee for deputy attorney general, sent a letter to Merchan that the case against Trump should be thrown out.
“On November 5, 2024, the Nation’s People issued a mandate that supersedes the political motivations of DANY’s ‘People,’” Blanche wrote. “This case must be immediately dismissed.”
Blanche’s letter requested permission to file a motion to dismiss by Dec. 20 and to request a stay on all deadlines. Bragg and New York prosecutors agreed to the new timeline.
Bragg sent a letter to the court requesting a stay on the case until 2029 — after Trump’s second term and he would fight Trump’s motion to dismiss.
Blanche said Bragg “appears to not yet be ready to dismiss this politically-motivated and fatally flawed case, which is what is mandated by the law and will happen as justice takes its course.”
Trump pleaded not guilty, but was ultimately found guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence on an alleged sexual encounter the two had.
