Lawyers representing US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday called on the judge who oversaw his conviction for falsifying business records to dismiss the charges against Trump, NBC News reported.
In the request, Trump’s attorneys cited remarks made by President Joe Biden when he announced a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, earlier this week.
"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,'" the legal filing, made public on Tuesday and quoted by NBC News, states.
“President Biden argued that ‘raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice.’ These comments amounted to an extraordinary condemnation of President Biden’s own DOJ,” the filing continues, alleging that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “has engaged in ‘precisely the type of political theater’ that President Biden has condemned.”
Bragg's office prosecuted Trump for falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
In May, a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts. However, Judge Juan Merchan later indefinitely postponed sentencing in the case, in the wake of Trump’s election victory and a US Supreme Court’s ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
The filing urges the judge to dismiss the case outright. If that request is denied, it asks for a “two-week stay to provide a reasonable opportunity to pursue federal injunctive relief” before any sentencing is scheduled.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has until December 9 to respond to the motion.