Prosecutors oppose tossing Trump’s hush money conviction but are open to sentencing delay

NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors oppose any effort to dismiss President-elect Donald Trump's hush money conviction, but they expressed openness Tuesday to delaying sentencing until after his second term.

In a court filing, the Manhattan district attorney's office said Trump's forthcoming presidency isn't grounds for dropping a case that was already tried. But, citing “the need to balance competing constitutional interests,” prosecutors said “consideration must be given” to shelving the case until after he's out of office.

Prosecutors said they're OK delaying Trump's sentencing — which had been set for November 26 — while his lawyers fight to get the case tossed out.

Judge Juan M. Merchan has not said when he will rule on the fate of the first criminal conviction of a former, and now future, US commander-in-chief. But with the sentencing schedule now effectively on hold, Trump's lawyers are pursuing multiple legal paths to try to dispose of the case — an effort that could reach the Supreme Court because of the unprecedented questions involved.

The president-elect was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying hush money to squelch a story of extramarital sex. Trump denies the allegations.

After Trump's election win this month, his lawyers urged Merchan to throw out the case. They wrote that it must be scrapped “to facilitate the orderly transition of executive power — and in the interests of justice.”

Merchan gave prosecutors until Tuesday to weigh in on how to proceed.

Prosecutors responded that they “are mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency” but also “deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system.”

Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung cast Tuesday's filing from prosecutors as “a total and definitive victory for President Trump” in a case that he has long deplored as a “witch hunt.”

“President Trump's legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all,” Cheung said in a statement.

The judge last week delayed ruling on Trump's earlier bid to reverse his conviction because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

A dismissal would erase Trump's conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record as well as a possible prison sentence.

Merchan could also decide to delay the case for some period, 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.

Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier. The payment was made shortly before the 2016 election.

Trump says they did not have sex and denies any wrongdoing.

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