This week manhattan prosecutors offered judge Juan Merchan some unique options in Donald Trumpʼs business-records case. The district attorneys office brought up ways to handle 34 charges about wrong business files (which might work well with the president-elects schedule)
The suggestions from Alvin Braggʼs team show two possible paths: they could pause everything but keep the case results on-file; or stop more court steps while saving proof that it happened. Its a non-standard solution thats meant to deal with an odd situation - having a convicted person become commander-in-chief
Trumps lawyers made their point clear to the court saying any more legal stuff would mess up the change-of-power process. They think court dates and presidential work dont mix well: “Moving forward with this case could hurt the smooth transfer of power“ [[Trumpʼs defense team stated]]. The whole thing needs to wrap up quick because inauguration day is coming up next month
The timing is super-important here - the case needs some kind of fix before jan 20th when the new term starts. The court has to think about:
- How to handle active court stuff during a presidential switch
- Ways to keep records but stop new actions
- What happens with the conviction if everything stops
- How timing works with white house duties
The new york supreme court now has to pick between keeping things moving or putting them on hold - both choices that nobody really planned for when making court rules