Donald Trump’s lawyers have repurposed President Biden’s line that ‘enough is enough’ when pardoning his son to argue that a New York judge should immediately dismiss his own hush money case.
The langauge, in a new legal filing Tuesday from Trump’s team, rips language from the Biden statement issued by the White House to justify the extraordinary pardon of his son Hunter for any offenses dating back to 2014.
That move provoked admonitions from some elected Democrats who arged that Biden was putting ‘family over country.’
‘As President Biden put it yesterday, ‘Enough is enough,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their latest filing to Judge Juan Merchan, who has already put the case on ice by postponing sentencing indefinitely following Trump’s win in the Novembver elecitons.
‘Wrongly continuing proceedings in this failed lawfare case disrupts President Trump´s transition efforts,’ the attorneys continued, before citing the ‘overwhelming national mandate granted to him by the American people on November 5, 2024,’ they wrote.
Trump’s lawyers formally asked a judge Monday to throw out his hush money criminal conviction, arguing continuing the case would present unconstitutional ‘disruptions to the institution of the Presidency.’
A New York jury convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to ‘hush’ payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a sexual affair with Trump. He denies it.
The filing was signed by lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who have eached been nominated by Trump to high level Justice Department posts.
In a filing made public Tuesday, Trump´s lawyers told Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan that dismissal is warranted because of the extraordinary circumstances of his impending return to the White House.
Donald Trump’s lawyers plucked language from President Biden’s statement on the pardon of his son Hunter, quoting his claims of political prosecution and saying ‘Enough is enough’
It comes just two days after some Democrats blasted Biden for having ‘put his family ahead of the country’ by pardoning Hunter, at a time when Trump has vowed to take ‘retribution’ against his political enemies.
In the court filing, Trump´s lawyers weren’t shy about citing Biden´s recent pardon of his son, who had been convicted of tax and gun charges.
‘President Biden asserted that his son was `selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,´ and `treated differently,´’ Trump´s legal team wrote. The Manhattan district attorney, they claimed, had engaged in the type of political theater ‘that President Biden condemned.’
‘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,”‘ Trump’s lawyers began.
‘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 Bidens own DOJ. This isthe same DOJ tha 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,’ they wrote, picking Trump’s own repeated claims of facing a ‘witch hunt.’
Prosecutors will have until Dec. 9 to respond. They have said they will fight any efforts to dismiss the case but have indicated openness to delaying sentencing until after Trump´s second term ends in 2029.
Under an alternate scenario, both Trump and Hunter could have been jailed. Trump was facing up to four years after his conviction, although Merchan also could have imposed community service or probation. Hunter Biden was facing sentencing this month after pleading guilty to tax charges in Calfornia and a jury conviction on gun charges in Delaware.
Biden argued that Hunter had been ‘singled out’ because his last name was Biden, although some members of his own party argued the pardon would bring blowback
Biden, who is in Angola, has yet to take questions about the pardon
Following Trump´s election victory last month, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed his sentencing, previously scheduled for late November, to allow the defense and prosecution to weigh in on the future of the case. He also delayed a decision on Trump´s prior bid to dismiss the case on immunity grounds.
Trump has been fighting for months to reverse the conviction, which involved efforts to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to disrupt his 2016 campaign. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Merchan hasn´t set a timetable for a decision.
A dismissal would erase Trump´s historic conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office.
Merchan could also decide to uphold the verdict and proceed to sentencing, delay the case until Trump leaves office, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump´s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court or choose some other option.
