Bragg lays out alternatives to dismissing Trump's hush money conviction

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office opposes dismissing President-elect Trump’s hush money charges but would accept halting the proceedings while he is in office, according to court documents made public Tuesday. 

Bragg previously signaled he would oppose Trump’s effort to outright toss the case, and the new filing provides prosecutors’ most extensive arguments yet about how Trump’s return to the White House should impact the first criminal prosecution of a former president. 

The 82-page brief does not plainly spell out the state’s preference for what should happen, instead walking through several options. Prosecutors left the door open to sentencing Trump before his inauguration but acknowledged Trump’s vows to stop it.

“The extreme remedy of dismissing the indictment and vacating the jury verdict is not warranted in light of multiple alternative accommodations that would fully address the concerns raised by presidential immunity,” Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy wrote.  

No further briefs are expected from either side. Next, New York Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial, will issue a ruling on the future of the case, a decision that could come at any time.

Prosecutors insisted Trump’s immunity as a sitting president does not kick in until his inauguration, rejecting Trump’s argument that he already has the protections as president-elect and the case must immediately end.

But the district attorney’s office did not dispute that once Trump returns to the White House, the judge would be justified in halting the case or taking additional other steps. 

That would leave open the possibility that Trump could still proceed to sentencing in 2029, after he leaves office.

Alternatively, state prosecutors said the judge could terminate the case without tossing Trump’s conviction, noting a jury verdict removed the presumption of innocence, he was never sentenced and his conviction was “neither affirmed nor reversed” on appeal because of presidential immunity.

This spring, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor.  

“On the one hand, this remedy would prevent defendant from being burdened during his presidency by an ongoing criminal proceeding,” prosecutors wrote.  

“On the other hand, this remedy would not precipitously discard aspects of this criminal proceeding that predated defendant’s presidency, including the meaningful fact that defendant was indicted and found guilty by a jury of his peers, while also acknowledging that the proceedings were not subject to appellate review before defendant’s immunity arose,” the brief continued. 

Trump was scheduled to be sentenced last month, but Merchan indefinitely adjourned the hearing after delaying the date several times, making it unlikely the former president will face any punishment before returning to the White House — if at all. 

Trump’s lawyers have argued his status as president-elect requires Merchan to immediately toss the entirety of the prosecution, warning they will appeal in federal court if he tries to move along toward sentencing. 

“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 on November 5, 2024,” Trump’s attorneys wrote last week. 

Prosecutors pushed back in their new filing, noting the trial court proceedings are still pending because of Trump’s own request for delay. 

“Having filed those motions to dismiss and then sought repeated adjournments of sentencing to permit their determination by this Court, it is particularly brazen for defendant to argue that the Supremacy Clause bars the Court from taking any action on the motions defendant himself filed,” prosecutors wrote. 

Trump’s other criminal cases have similarly faltered in the wake of his election victory. Special counsel Jack Smith dismissed all charges in Trump’s federal criminal cases, and the president-elect has similarly moved to dismiss his Georgia case, which already remains frozen on a pretrial appeal.