Former President Donald Trump is seeking to have a judge dismiss his 34-count indictment by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg regarding alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump attorneys Susan Necheles and Todd Blanche on Sept. 29 filed a motion of dismissal in New York Supreme Court in New York County, arguing the indictment "calls into question the integrity of the criminal justice process, is inconsistent with bedrock due process principles, and is interfering with the campaign of the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election."
Trump was indicted in April and pleaded not guilty to all counts of falsifying business records to cover up $130,000 paid to Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump, a claim Trump has denied. He is set to go on trial March 25, during the presidential primary season.
The indictment claims a Trump attorney at the time, believed to be Michael Cohen, allegedly paid off Daniels with his own money and that Trump falsified business records to hide the reason he was paying Cohen back in monthly installments.
The motion to dismiss called the claims in the indictment are a "discombobulated package of politically motivated charges marred by legal defects, procedural failures, discovery violations, and a stubborn refusal to provide meaningful particulars regarding its theory of the case."
"The pretrial presumption in favor of the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses has never been stretched as thinly as it is here," the motion states. "Nevertheless, and even while granting [Bragg] the inferences to which it is entitled, this case must be dismissed."
It also claims the five-year statute of limitations on any alleged violations of New York law committed by Trump expired before Trump was indicted.
"Each count is premised on conduct that was completed more than five years before the date the Indictment was filed in this Court, i.e., April 4, 2023," the indictment states. "Any crimes that were allegedly completed before April 4, 2018, are untimely and must be dismissed. The most recent alleged false business entry in the Indictment is charged in Count 34 and occurred in December 2017. Accordingly, all of the charges are untimely."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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