On Friday, the judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump’s time-capsuled hush-money case granted prosecutors everything they sought while granting the defense only a portion of their request.
The penultimate hand came down in favor of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. And, with one pocket ace in the soon-to-be-shelved case, special counsel Jack Smith is a notable non-player.
Two previously separate prosecutions could now intersect in legally relevant ways in the New York City-based case against Trump.
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As previously reported Smith, who is bound by DOJ rules, is withdrawing from the Jan. 6 case, which is based in Washington, DC.
Days after Trump won the presidential election, the special counsel set a self-imposed deadline of December 2 for a final status report, which was quickly formalized by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
“By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations,” the text of the vacate motion reads. “The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request.”
Of course, the precise procedural posture Smith will take on December 2 is unknown to the general public. The practical outcome, however, is a foregone conclusion: the federal case is over.
For all intents and purposes, or at least for the foreseeable future, so is the business record falsification case against the 45th and 47th presidents, as agreed upon by both the state and Trump.
As reported earlier this week, Trump’s attorneys in New York are eager to see how Smith will justify closing the case he spent years and millions of dollars prosecuting.
In a letter motion, attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove stated that they wanted to investigate “the positions taken by the DOJ in the federal cases” that are likely to be dismissed or otherwise dissolved.
To that end, Trump’s team requested a deadline of December 20 to file their new motion to dismiss in the hush-money case.
When Blanche and Bove filed their final dismissal motion, it appeared that they intended to cite Smith’s own justifications. They wanted a few weeks to consider their options and arguments.
In an order granting relief and setting deadlines, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan denied the defense’s request. Instead, the court gave Trump until Dec. 2 to file his motion to dismiss.
“Defendant’s motion is due by the close of business Monday, December 2, 2024,” Merchan’s brief Friday order states. “The People’s response is due by the close of business on Monday, December 9, 2024. “The Court will not accept reply briefs.”
That date, of course, corresponds to the deadline for Smith’s status report on the Jan. 6 case in the federal district. This timeline will likely leave Trump’s New York attorneys with significantly less than 24 hours to review Smith’s arguments and incorporate them into their final “interests of justice” motion to dismiss the hush-money case.
Perhaps coincidentally, the timeline corresponds to Bragg’s temporal request in the matter, which was made via a motion filed hours earlier. The district attorney’s office did not comment on when Trump should have to file his final motion. However, the prosecution requested that Merchan set a deadline of December 9 for the government’s response.
Aside from the tight scheduling conflicts, the Manhattan judge granted various types of relief requested by both parties.
In the end, Bragg and Trump agreed that the court should stay all remaining deadlines in the case, defer ruling on a previous motion to dismiss, and postpone sentencing indefinitely.
The judge was happy to oblige.
There are now only two more motions in the case, which will most likely be heard in 2029. Bragg’s motion is, by definition, contingent on the arguments made in Trump’s; however, the defense suggested that their motion be contingent on how Smith fords the river.
The end result: two previously unrelated prosecutors may make life significantly easier, or slightly more difficult, for the next president’s attorneys as all of the lawyers involved go their separate ways.
