Trump Files Motion to Dismiss New York Criminal Case

Trump’s motion cited the president’s pardon of his son, Hunter Biden.

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., on Oct. 26, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has filed a motion requesting that New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan dismiss his New York criminal case and verdicts against him.

“Wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump’s transition efforts and his preparations to wield the full Article II executive power authorized by the Constitution pursuant to the overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people,” his motion, dated Dec. 2, reads.

It alleged that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg waged an “unconstitutional crusade” against Trump.

The motion came after Merchan adjourned sentencing previously scheduled for Nov. 26.

In May, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts, raising the prospect that he could face prison. Experts told The Epoch Times that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution would preclude Trump from serving prison time.

On Nov. 22, Merchan set a deadline for Bragg’s office to submit a response to Trump by Dec. 9.

The New York case is one of four criminal cases that were brought against Trump before the 2024 election.

Courts have already granted special counsel Jack Smith’s request to dismiss his federal cases against the president-elect, based in Florida and Washington. In Georgia, the court of appeals unexpectedly canceled an oral argument scheduled for this month over a judge’s refusal to require district attorney Fani Willis’s recusal from the case against Trump in the state.

Part of Trump’s motion cited President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, and alleged that the president’s statements cast doubt on the Department of Justice (DOJ).

On Dec. 1, Biden announced the pardon, stating “I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” He also said that he believed “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.”

Noting that language, Trump’s motion said that “these comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ.”

It also noted that Matthew Colangelo, one of the lead prosecutors in the case, joined Bragg’s team after serving in Biden’s DOJ.

Trump’s motion also cites the supremacy clause and legal doctrine of presidential immunity as reasons to dismiss the case. It pointed to a DOJ memo from 2000 that Smith cited in his requests to dismiss the election interference case in Washington.

That memo states that “indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.”

On Nov. 19, Bragg’s office argued that “no current law establishes that a president’s temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding.”