Trump's hush money dismissal motion invokes Hunter Biden pardon

President-elect Trump’s attorneys laid out their arguments for why his criminal conviction in New York should be dismissed entirely in a new court filing made public Tuesday in which they cited Hunter Biden’s pardon earlier this week.

Since he won the election, Trump has pushed for tossing the jury’s 34-count guilty verdict that stems from a 2016 hush money payment, drawing opposition from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), who has instead floated merely freezing the case during Trump’s impending presidential term.

The new brief expands upon Trump’s past assertion that dismissal is required since he is president-elect, with his attorneys additionally citing President Biden’s pardon of his son, Hunter in the second paragraph of the court filing.

”As President Biden put it yesterday, ‘Enough is enough,’” wrote Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, whom Trump has also tapped for No. 2 and No. 3 positions in his incoming Justice Department.

This spring, the jury convicted Trump on 34 felonies for falsifying New York business records to cover-up a hush money payment as part of an intent to unlawfully influence the 2016 election. Trump’s then-fixer had paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet during the campaign about an alleged affair with Trump, an affair he denies.

Judge Juan Merchan, who oversees Trump’s case, is to decide whether to set aside the verdict and dismiss the charges after Bragg’s office responds in writing by next week. Trump’s sentencing has been adjourned as the battle plays out.

Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson and incoming White House communications director, in a statement called the new brief a “powerhouse motion” that “provides every possible chance for Judge Merchan [to] do the right thing and end what remains of this charade immediately.”

“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 in the filing.

They cited a New York provision that allows judges to dismiss criminal charges when there is a “legal impediment” and another provision enabling judges to toss charges in the interests of justice.

Recounting at length the former president’s previously failed legal arguments, including that prosecutors committed trial misconduct and the judge has a conflict of interest because of his daughter’s employment as an executive at a firm that lists prominent Democrats as clients, Trump’s attorneys contended that dismissing the case would improve public confidence in the criminal justice system.

They asserted doing so would also benefit the public welfare by giving Bragg and his prosecution team a “renewed opportunity to put an end to deteriorating conditions in the City and to protect its residents from violent crime.”

The battle comes as special counsel Jack Smith dismissed his two federal criminal prosecutions of Trump in the wake of his election victory. Trump has not yet moved to end his only other remaining criminal case, his Georgia election interference charges, which remain far away from trial.

Updated 5:17 p.m.

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