The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which successfully secured a conviction against Donald Trump in a landmark criminal case last spring, voiced its opposition on Tuesday to the cancellation of the trial. They proposed instead to pause the proceedings until the conclusion of his second presidential term.
“This Court should reject [Trump’s] motion to ‘immediately’ dismiss the indictment and vacate the jury’s guilty verdict based on the outcome of the recent presidential election,” stated Alvin Bragg, the District Attorney for Manhattan.
“There are no grounds for such relief now, prior to the defendant’s inauguration, because President-elect immunity does not exist,” the prosecutor argued in a brief submitted to Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan, who is expected to make a ruling.
“Even after the inauguration, any temporary immunity afforded to a sitting president would not warrant disregarding a unanimous guilty verdict or nullifying all completed stages of this criminal process with a single stroke of a pen,” he elaborated.
This response follows a request from Trump’s lawyers last week, who cited a presidential pardon granted by Joe Biden to his son Hunter, urging the judge to annul the trial.
