Trump lawyers request dismissal of business fraud case

Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump petitioned the New York Supreme Court on Monday to dismiss the former president’s business fraud conviction, arguing the prosecution was politically motivated. The filing came less than two weeks after New York Acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan indefinitely delayed the president-elect’s sentencing hearing for the conviction, effectively shelving his sentencing until further notice. Trump’s team used President Joe Biden’s Sunday pardon of his federally convicted son, Hunter, as precedent for the dismissal. Biden rationalized pardoning his own son by claiming he was politically targeted by prosecutors and a victim of miscarried justice, the motion said. Since Trump was also the victim of a politically motivated witch hunt, his conviction should be dismissed in a similar fashion, the team argued.

If the judge effectively shelved the sentencing, why is Trump’s team moving for a full dismissal? The U.S. Department of Justice concluded several weeks ago that it is legally barred from prosecuting a sitting president, which prompted prosecutors in Trump’s federal election interference case to request that those charges be dismissed. In this separate state case, the judge merely postponed Trump’s sentencing until further notice. Without the case’s full dismissal, the judge could legally revive the case and reschedule a sentencing hearing at any time after the conclusion of Trump’s second term.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report about a federal judge who also turned down a previous appeal from Trump’s team to dismiss the business fraud case.