New York DA floats 4-year Trump sentencing freeze

What happened

New York City prosecutors Tuesday rejected a bid by Donald Trump's lawyers to throw out the president-elect's 34 felony convictions but said they were open to "various non-dismissal options," including "deferral" of Trump's sentencing until after his "upcoming presidential term."

Who said what

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said Judge Juan Merchan needed to balance the interests of the presidency against the "integrity of the criminal justice system." Prosecutors were "mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency, and acknowledge that defendant's inauguration will raise unprecedented legal questions," Bragg's team wrote, but "we also deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system."

Bragg had "limited and unappealing options" after Trump's election win and, to a lesser extent, the Supreme Court's July decision to grant Trump immunity for official acts in office, The New York Times said. Trump's lawyers are using both results to try to get the convictions thrown out.

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Merchan was scheduled to sentence Trump in the case, stemming from hush-money payments to a porn actress, on Nov. 26. But with both Bragg and Trump's lawyers agreeing on another delay, "the judge is likely to acquiesce to the request," NPR said. Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung called the pause a "total and definitive victory" for the president-elect and said Trump's lawyers were moving to get the case "dismissed once and for all."

What next?

Merchan could "decide to delay the case for some period, wait until a federal appeals court rules on Trump’s parallel effort to get the case moved out of state court, or choose some other option," The Associated Press said. If Trump is eventually sentenced, he faces up to four years in prison, and because it is a state case, he "would not be able to pardon himself once he returns to office." It is "not unheard-of" to have "long sentencing delays," the Times said, but if all four of the felony cases Trump faced just months ago "unravel," it would "further embolden" him, "solidifying an aura of invincibility" as he started his second term.