DA Suggests 'Novel Remedies' in Trump Case

Eager to preserve President-elect Trump's hush-money conviction even as he returns to office, prosecutors are suggesting various ways to handle the criminal case—including the novel notion of borrowing a procedure some courts use when defendants die. In court papers made public on Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's's office proposed an array of options for keeping the historic conviction on the books, the AP reports.

• The proposals include freezing the case until Trump is out of office, or agreeing that any future sentence wouldn't include jail time. Another idea: closing the case with a notation that acknowledges his conviction but says that he was never sentenced and that his appeal wasn't resolved because of presidential immunity.

• The last is adopted from how some states handle cases when a defendant dies after being convicted but before appeals are exhausted. It is unclear whether that option is viable under New York law, but prosecutors suggested that Judge Juan M. Merchan could innovate.
• "Especially given the novelty of defendant's own immunity claims, it would hardly be improper for this Court to exercise its inherent authority to consider novel remedies," Manhattan prosecutors wrote, noting "the context of this unique case."
• Expanding on a position they laid out last month, prosecutors were adamant that the conviction should stand. They argue that Trump's impending return to the White House should not upend a jury's finding.
• "At most, defendant should receive temporary accommodations during his presidency to prevent this criminal case from meaningfully interfering with his official decision-making," Bragg's office's wrote, per MSNBC.

• There was no immediate reaction from Trump's lawyers, who are pressing for the case to be dismissed altogether in light of his election. The Trump team argues that letting the case continue would present unconstitutional "disruptions" to his upcoming presidential term.
• A dismissal would erase Trump's historic conviction, sparing him the cloud of a criminal record and possible prison sentence. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office.
• The request for dismissal, Bragg's office wrote, goes "well beyond what is necessary to protect the presidency and would subvert the compelling public interest in preserving the jury's unanimous verdict and upholding the rule of law."
• It's unclear how soon Merchan may decide what to do next with the case. Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

(More Trump hush-money trial stories.)