In a sign of just how much Donald Trump’s election has overwhelmed his criminal cases, Manhattan prosecutors this weekend asked the judge in his hush money case to pause it while they assess the implications of Trump becoming president-elect.
The Manhattan court in which Trump was found guilty in May released an email exchange on Tuesday between attorneys for Trump, the Manhattan DA’s office, and the clerk of court. In the email thread, it’s clear that the Manhattan DA’s office is unsure of how to proceed after Trump’s election.
As a result, a clerk for Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial earlier this year, told the parties that the judge would delay a key ruling in the case by one week, until Nov. 19. Merchan had previously said that he would rule by today on whether the Supreme Court’s July immunity decision would negate the result of the trial.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo initiated the thread in a Sunday email to the court. Per his message, Trump attorneys first conferred with prosecutors for a stay of proceedings on Friday, in order to consider the impact of Trump’s anticipated certification as president-elect on Jan. 6 and his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Colangelo wrote that prosecutors agree that “these are unprecedented circumstances,” and added that it would require “careful consideration” to weigh two factors: the jury’s verdict that Trump is guilty and the “Office of the President.”
After Colangelo asked the judge for a delay, Trump attorney Emil Bove followed up with a request to both delay and dismiss the case. Trump’s lawyers have been asking for the case to be dismissed since he was charged; they’ve repeated the request, amid continuous rejections from the judge, through the trial and post-guilty verdict.
Bove wrote that stay and dismissal are “necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern.”
The exchange reflects a broader quagmire in the four criminal cases brought against Trump in 2023. Last week, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the court in the Jan. 6 case to freeze proceedings, citing the DOJ’s policy on not prosecuting sitting presidents.
Merchan had planned to issue a ruling on Tuesday addressing whether the immunity decision, which places the vast majority of presidential acts above the law and excludes them from use as evidence in criminal trials about non-official acts, requires dismissal of Trump’s case. Should Merchan decide to keep the case alive, sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 26.
