Trump cites Biden’s pardoning of son in bid to quash hush money case

Donald Trump has cited US President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter in an attempt to get his hush money conviction overturned.

In a motion that was filed on Monday and made public on Tuesday, President-elect Trump’s lawyers urged Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan to immediately dismiss the case, claiming it was politically motivated.

They argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted Trump, was guilty of “precisely the type of political theatre” that Biden had condemned when exonerating his son for federal gun and tax convictions.

In a statement on Sunday explaining his use of a presidential pardon, Biden said Hunter was only prosecuted for being his son. “The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” he claimed.

Echoing this language, Trump’s defence team said their client had also been targeted in the hush money lawsuit because of politics.

“President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,’“ they wrote, before suggesting that Bragg had done the same with Trump.

In May, Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a crime when he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 (€123,750) payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who claimed the pair had sex with a decade earlier. The money was allegedly sent to buy her silence in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case.

Following Trump’s decisive victory in last month’s presidential vote, Merchan, the judge in the hush money case, postponed sentencing, which had been due to take place in late November.

Prosecutors have suggested that they are prepared for sentencing to be postponed until after Trump finishes his second presidential term in 2029.

However, in their motion this week, Trump’s lawyers argued that continuing the case would create “disruptions to the institution of the presidency.”

They also said that clearing him of the conviction would enable him “to devote all of his energy to protecting the nation.”

The prosecution has until Monday to respond to the filing.

In the build-up to the election on 5 November, the president-elect had multiple criminal cases weighing over him. Since his presidential win, his legal troubles have begun to dissipate.

Last week, special prosecutor Jack Smith announced that he was dropping two cases against Trump, citing Department of Justice guidance that grants incumbent presidents immunity while in office.

The first case related to supposed election interference in 2020, while the second concerned the alleged hoarding of classified documents.

Following Biden’s decision to pardon his son on Sunday, some Democrats expressed concern that the move would play into Trump’s hands, as they believe it will now be harder for them to oppose the incoming president’s legal moves.