Sundance | July 2, 2024
[SOURCE]
In a letter to Judge Merchan earlier today, New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg is asking for a postponement of sentencing.
Regardless of the corrupt Lawfare trial outcome, the Supreme Court ruling around presidential immunity has thrown a wrench into the former prosecution’s case.
Alvin Bragg used evidence, within the trial, that has been deemed by the Supreme court to be inadmissible. President Trump’s lawyers are filing a motion to overturn the judgement based on the SCOTUS ruling. Bragg now requests additional time to review the Lawfare consequences and construct his own legal strategy.
As pointed out by attorney Jeff Clark – […] “Bragg agrees that Trump has filed a motion to dismiss the New York charges in light of yesterday’s immunity ruling. The Manhattan DA needs until July 24 to respond.
Also, Bragg admits that the legal effect of Trump’s ruling + their requested extension meaning that Trump should not be sentenced in New York until the motion is resolved.
This means that if Bragg gets his extension (which he will), the earliest Judge Merchan could deny a motion to dismiss the case and reset sentencing would be July 25. And that would be only after studying the matter for a single day, which should be insufficient. And doesn’t even consider oral argument on the motion if that gets held.
The Republican Convention is from July 15-18, so Trump will not be sentenced before the Convention!
On balance of all factors, the earliest Trump gets sentenced is realistically now some day in August.
And in reality, the whole case should get tossed before then. (Source)
According to Politico, the sentencing has been delayed until September 18th.
NEW YORK — Donald Trump’s sentencing in his Manhattan criminal case has been delayed until Sept. 18 so that the former president can present new arguments that his conviction should be tossed out in light of Monday’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity.
The sentencing, which had been set for July 11, will now take place less than two months before Election Day. (link)
“if such is still necessary”…. lol ?
When you look at the issue through a Lawfare prism, things start to take on a different context. Perhaps one of the reasons Bragg is making this request for a delay is that the Lawfare team are now a little overwhelmed.
The SCOTUS immunity ruling means McCord, Weissmann, Eisen et al, have to restructure the strategy and instructions in 4 separate cases, simultaneously, involving Trump and the Supreme Court ruling.
All those legal motions, counter predictive responses, and legal arguments are now needed almost simultaneously. As a result, the Lawfare group needs more time.
The district attorneys (New York / Atlanta) and Special Counsel Jack Smith will not be asking for more time simply because Trump’s legal team are requesting it. The prosecution teams will likely be requesting time on behalf of Weissmann/Eisen et al, to be proactive with a new strategy and Lawfare approach.
In essence, the ever-present *strategic benefit* of scale, the collective Lawfare weight (4 venues) against the individual target Trump, has now become a strategic liability as an outcome of the SCOTUS ruling.
All four venues will need responsiveness simultaneously. Weissmann, Eisen, McCord, Berke, Goldman, etc will now be burning the midnight oil trying to catch up.
I anticipate far fewer appearances on MSNBC cable, because they will not have time.
Let’s watch and see if I’m correct
@Raphael: Your thinking is good but Trump’s lawyers would then have a solid case of election interference that could not be denied.
This article reads like good news for Trump, but I wonder…
Would this give the prosecution the opportunity to restructure their case(s) and to, in effect, retry President Trump?
If the judge does hand down a sentence, just before the election, could the “conviction” possibly knock Trump off of the ballot in some states?