The Hush Money Case Won't Die

Bragg and Merchan are betting on Trump's stall tactics to keep the case alive.

Judge Merchan was expected to drop his ruling on Trump’s motion to dismiss last Tuesday. Instead, DA Alvin Bragg filed a letter in which he expressed his intent to argue against Trump’s motion, but that he had no problem with a stay of proceedings until the dismissal motion was handled.

Early reports that the case had been dismissed were wrong, fueled by a misunderstanding of the legal system and how New York classifies cases.

Friend of the show, Andrew McCarthy, wrote a brilliant analysis of the situation over at the National Review.

There is a chess game going on here. Bottom line: I believe Bragg is trying to manipulate Trump into asking that the prosecution be suspended for four years.

Andrew gets in-depth into the thinking and legal maneuvering on all sides. Essentially, he believes that Bragg will try to force Trump to ask for a four-year stay. Bragg doesn’t really need Trump to be sentenced; he already got his win. Trump desperately needs to not be sentenced before retaking the presidency. Ironically, after all the stall tactics Trump employed early on, it is now Bragg’s turn to stall and force Trump’s hand.

Per Andrew:

Moreover, while we analysts are, well, analytical, Trump is a fatalist who has confidence that, somehow and someway, he will always land on his feet. Trump thinks, I believe, that if he can avoid being sentenced and formally convicted, some event will make the case go away. No analyst thinks that way, but, then again, a year ago, no analyst would have thought that the other three criminal cases against Trump would just collapse by the deus ex machina of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Trump may not be a very religious guy, but he’s a deus ex machina believer. If you’d lived his life, you’d be one, too.

---

Lorraine Yuriar is a wife, mother, and lifelong conservative, currently stuck in a very blue state.