Judge Merchan Cancels ‘Hush Money’ Sentencing Indefinitely, Grants Trump Request to File Motion to Dismiss Charges

November 22, 2024 Stan

Judge Juan Merchan has indefinitely canceled the sentencing hearing for President Donald Trump’s “hush money case” in New York.

Merchan issued the ruling on Friday while also granting Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges completely.

The judge has now officially removed the sentencing date for the New York v. Trump case from the schedule.

Merchan said Trump’s attorneys have until December 2 to file their motion for dismissal.

Additionally, Merchant said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the George Soros-funded Democrat prosecutor leading the anti-Trump case, has until December 9 to respond.

Merchan also confirmed the stay for Trump’s sentencing.

The stay was requested by both Trump’s and Bragg’s attorneys.

The sentencing was scheduled for November 26.

However, Merchant said on Friday that the date “is adjourned.”

Bragg had been hoping the sentencing hearing would be delayed until Trump leaves the White House in 2029.

Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung reacted to Merchants Friday ruling on the “hoax” case.

In a statement, Cheung said the ruling was a “decisive win” for the 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.”

“All of the sham lawfare attacks against President Trump are now destroyed and we are focused on Making America Great Again,” he added.

In a letter to Merchan on Wednesday, Trump’s defense attorney Todd Blanche demanded the case be tossed.

“On November 5, 2024, the Nation’s People issued a mandate that supersedes the political motivations of DANY’s ‘People,’” wrote Blanche, Trump’s nominee for deputy attorney general.

“This case must be immediately dismissed.”

Blanche said that “immediate dismissal of this case is mandated by the federal Constitution, the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, and the interests of justice, to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

Blanche’s pre-motion letter on Wednesday was sent to request permission to file a motion to dismiss by December 20.

He also sought to request a stay on all deadlines, which Bragg and New York prosecutors had agreed to.

The letter came after Bragg sent a letter to Merchan on Tuesday requesting a stay on the case until 2029.

The move from Bragg suggests that Democrats are still hoping to pursue Trump with lawfare when he leaves office.

Bragg said he would oppose Trump’s motion to dismiss but said he would be open to receiving the defense argument.

Blanche argued that 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.”

He pointed to Bragg’s election campaign for another term as Manhattan district attorney.

Blanche argued that “continuing with this case would be ‘uniquely destabilizing’ and threatens to ‘hamstring the operation of the whole governmental apparatus, both in foreign and domestic affairs.’”

“The Court must address these new issues and dismiss the case, before issuing a decision on the previously filed Presidential immunity motion,” Blanche explained.

“Any other action would violate the presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause.”

Blanche added that “even if the Court were to wrongly deny the new interests-of-justice motion, which it should not do, the appropriate forum for any additional proceedings must first be resolved in President Trump’s removal appeal.”

If the court denies any aspect of relief, including by moving forward with any proceedings, Trump would request that the court stay the implementation of the ruling so that the president-elect has “adequate time to pursue appellate review,” Blanche noted.

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree stemming from the yearslong “investigation” related to alleged “hush money” payments.

The anti-Trump probe was run by the Soros-funded Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance initiated the investigation, and Bragg prosecuted Trump.

After an unprecedented six-week trial in New York City, a jury found the president guilty on all counts.

However, prosecutors failed to provide any evidence tying Trump to the allegations and instead, sought to smear his character with salacious witness testimonies.

Merchan last week granted a stay on all deadlines associated with conviction proceedings against Trump in the final weeks before he is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

The stay included the Nov. 26 sentencing date.

On Tuesday, Trump officials argued that Bragg’s request was a representation of “a total failure of the prosecution,” and interpreted the case as being “effectively over.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s attorneys had requested that Merchan overturn the guilty verdict altogether.

They are citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office.

During the trial, the prosecution produced “witnesses” and “evidence” that would fall under Trump’s immunity.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity came from a question that stemmed from charges brought against Trump in a separate, federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Smith’s case was related to the events on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in that case.