After President Joe Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, on Sunday, the legal team for President-elect Donald Trump made a request for Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the hush money case. On May 30, Trump was found "guilty" on 34 felony counts in a sham trial held in New York City on hush money charges brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. What's particularly noteworthy about the motion, from Monday, is that the second paragraph makes reference to the pardon of Hunter Biden.
Trump has filed his motion to dismiss the hush money case in Manhattan. It's a 72-page document and the first mention of Hunter Biden's pardon appears in paragraph #2.
— erica orden (@eorden) December 3, 2024
The motion from Trump's attorneys, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who have also been tasked for key roles in the Trump administration's Department of Justice (DOJ), uses the pardoning of Hunter to further argue that the case be dismissed.
As that motion read early on:
Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” and “treated differently.” Ex. 81.1 President Biden argued that “raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” Id. These comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ. This is the same DOJ that coordinated and oversaw the politically-motivated, election-interference witch hunts targeting President Trump by disgraced Special Counsel Jack Smith, the other biased prosecutors in Smith’s Special Counsel’s Office (“SCO”), and others. This is the same DOJ that sent Matthew Colangelo to DA Bragg to help unfairly target President Trump in this empty and lawless case.
Since DA Bragg took office, he has engaged in “precisely the type of political theater” that President Biden condemned. Bragg v. Jordan, 669 F. Supp. 3d 257, 271 (S.D.N.Y. 2023). This case is based on a contrived, defective, and unprecedented legal theory relating to 2017 entries in documents that were maintained hundreds of miles away from the White House where President Trump was running the country. There are no “aggravating factors” here, other than those arising from DANY’s misconduct. Ex. 81. Thus, this case should never have been brought, particularly during a period when DA Bragg’s failure to protect this City from pervasive violent crime frightens, threatens, and harms New Yorkers on a daily basis. And this case would never have been brought were it not for President Trump’s political views, the transformative national movement established under his leadership, and the political threat that he poses to entrenched, corrupt politicians in Washington, D.C. and beyond.
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. Under Trump v. United States, 603 U.S. 593 (2024) and related caselaw, DANY’s disruptions to the institution of the Presidency violate the Presidential immunity doctrine because they threaten the functioning of the federal government. Local elected officials such as DA Bragg have no valid basis to cause such disruptions, which also violate the Supremacy Clause. Consequently, the federal Constitution is an absolute “legal impediment” to further proceedings, CPL § 210.20(1)(h), and the case must be immediately dismissed.
There were plenty of concerns about the case that Bragg's office brought against Trump from the start, including when it comes to the role of politicized DOJ that the motion mentioned above, with Matthew Colangelo, formerly a top employee at the Biden-Harris DOJ, leaving to work for Bragg's office and prosecute Trump.
While Judge Merchan has moved to indefinitely delay sentencing, as Townhall has been covering, Bragg's office still stubbornly looks to hold onto the conviction by merely agreeing to a pause, as CNN noted in their reporting of such a motion to dismiss.
Reporting from The Hill also includes a statement from Steven Cheung, who served as communications director for the Trump-Vance campaign and will have such a role in the incoming administration. Trump's lawyers also laid out other arguments in favor of dismissing the case:
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.
When it comes to the suggestion that Bragg's office focus on a "renewed opportunity to put an end to deteriorating conditions in the City and to protect its residents from violent crime," it's worth reminding that there's been a serious mishandling of priorities. In addition to the rise of hate crimes in New York State, especially New York City, Bragg's office meanwhile prioritizes targeting political opponents like Trump and heroic figures like Daniel Penny, who has been charged for the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was terrorizing people on the subway.
The legal cases against Trump have been failing, though those who brought such charges against him still look to be holding on in many ways. Special Counsel Jack Smith has dropped all of his cases against Trump, though he did so without prejudice so that they may still be theoretically brought back. He is also looking to finalize a report for Attorney General Merrick Garland to release.