Court may dismiss criminal charges against Trump after poll victory

The United States president-elect, Donald Trump, is likely to receive immunity from the four criminal charges against him as citizens await his appointment in January 2025.

While the president-elect has faced multiple criminal charges, including accusations of financial misconduct and obstruction of justice, many believe that his position may shield him from prosecution during his term in office.  

Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, both of whom he nominated last week to the Department of Justice posts in his new administration, sought the judge’s permission to file a motion to dismiss the case.

The defense attorneys argued that his conviction for illegally covering up hush money payments to an adult film actress should be dismissed because he won the U.S. presidential election and sentencing would threaten government stability.

In a letter filed on Tuesday and made public Wednesday, the Republican president-elect’s lawyers asked New York State Supreme Court, Justice Juan Merchan, for permission to file a formal motion laying out their arguments by Dec. 20.

“Just as a sitting president is immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” the lawyers wrote.

They added that the case after his election victory would be “uniquely destabilizing” and threaten to “hamstring the operation of the whole governmental apparatus.”

The defense filing comes one day after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg opposed dismissing the case but consented to freeze off all remaining proceedings, including sentencing, until after Trump completes his term.

Trump, the first U.S president to be charged with a criminal offense, was convicted in May for falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to silence allegations about a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

In response to the allegation, Trump had pleaded not guilty to the case, which he has long portrayed as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfere with his campaign.

As the Republican candidate prepares to assume office in January 2025, legal experts speculate on the implications of his potential immunity.

Trump’s victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election made the prospect of imposing a sentence of jail or probation even more politically difficult and impractical, given that a sentence could have impeded his ability to conduct the duties of the presidency.