Alvin Bragg braced for the judge’s ruling that was his nightmare scenario
Alvin Bragg’s attempt to convince a judge to sentence Donald Trump to prison was the last remnant of the lawfare against Donald Trump.
But Trump’s election victory put that all in doubt.
And Alvin Bragg braced for the judge’s ruling that was his nightmare scenario.
Judge Juan Merchan – a left-wing activist and Joe Biden campaign donor set sentencing for Donald Trump in the falsification of business records trial for November 26.
It was widely expected that Merchan would sentence Trump to prison.
If Merchan didn’t throw Trump behind bars, it would become clear that the whole point of this trial was just to win a rigged conviction against Trump so Democrats could attack Trump as a convicted felon on the campaign trail.
Trump’s lawyers argued the case should be thrown out under the Supreme Court’s Presidential immunity ruling.
“Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” President-elect Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Trump’s lawyers argued it would impair Trump’s ability to carry out his duties as President if Merchan delayed sentencing until after Trump’s term in office expired.
“Lawyers for Trump, a Republican, have argued that the case must be dismissed because having it loom over him while he was president would cause what they called “unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern,” the Daily Mail reported.
Alvin Bragg opposed dismissing the case.
But Bragg also ceded the point that Trump’s lawyers should have their day in court to get the guilty verdict – which was a travesty of justice – vacated.
“Bragg’s office said they would argue against dismissal, but agreed Trump deserved time to make his case through written motions,” the Daily Mail also reported.
Judge Merchan instructed Trump’s lawyers to submit their filing on December 2.
Bragg’s prosecutors will file their response on December 9.
This ruling provides Judge Merchan an off ramp to get out of the mess he created by letting this bogus case go forward in the first place.
Trump’s lawyers aren’t even asking Merchan to reverse himself.
The argument before the court isn’t that Merchan allowed Bragg to enforce federal campaign finance law – of which he has no jurisdiction over.
Nor did Trump’s lawyers ask Merchan to throw the case out because it violated the statute of limitations – Merchan allowed Bragg to combine two stale misdemeanors into a felony to keep the case active.
Trump’s lawyers are simply asking Merchan to throw the case out in light of a Supreme Court ruling about Presidential immunity that came down after this case concluded.
Bragg used official Presidential acts as evidence, a move the court says is unconstitutional.
Merchan has to know this case is getting overturned eventually.
Now Merchan can take an off ramp and end a constitutional crisis of a sitting President facing potential jail time as he waits for the appeals process to play out.
