Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has declined to dismiss the case against President-elect Donald Trump for falsifying business records to silence former porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.
“There is no such thing as immunity for a president-elect,” the prosecutor said in a statement, admitting that Trump cannot be sentenced while he is in office, although he has argued for the sentencing to be frozen until he leaves office or accepts the charges without serving a jail sentence.
This comes after Trump’s lawyers asked to dismiss the case, citing special prosecutor Jack Smith’s recent decision to dismiss two other federal cases against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election result and for misappropriation of classified documents.
Trump was convicted last April on a total of 34 charges when he was not even confirmed as an official presidential candidate. The judge held him responsible for concealing a $130,000 payment to Clifford to keep her quiet about an alleged extramarital affair shortly before the 2016 election.
For its part, the New York state attorney general’s office has determined that the civil fraud case led by Attorney General Letitia James “does not represent any burden on his future Presidency,” since presidents do not have immunity from civil litigation, according to CNN.
Trump and several of his children owe approximately $490 million, including interest, in a civil fraud case after a judge ruled last year that they inflated the value of their assets in financial documents for more than a decade.
