Trump cites Hunter Biden pardon in motion to dismiss New York criminal case

Donald Trump’s lawyers pointed to an unlikely person in demanding a judge dismiss the president-elect’s New York criminal case: Hunter Biden.

Trump’s attorneys said in a court filing made public Tuesday that President Biden’s controversial pardon of his son echoed Trump’s complaints about the prosecution.

“Yesterday, in issuing a 10-year pardon to Hunter Biden that covers any and all crimes whether charged or uncharged, President Biden asserted that his son was ‘selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,’ and ‘treated differently,'” they wrote, before claiming Trump was treated similarly.

In the filing, which was submitted Monday night, they formally demanded a New York judge throw out the president-elect’s criminal case and nullify a unanimous jury’s conclusion that Trump committed dozens of felonies.

Their argument struck at the quality of the case against Trump, but focused largely on a wholly unique argument in the history of America’s legal system. Trump’s lawyers said his conviction in state court should not stand, citing as their sole reason the fact that he was elected president after his conviction.

Prosecutors for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have vowed to oppose the dismissal motion, and have been given a one-week deadline to file their response. They pursued the case amid a torrent of public threats of retribution by Trump’s allies, and anonymous threats of violence by his supporters

Trump’s lawyers argued in their filing that the Constitution requires dismissal of the case, even though it’s already progressed though trial, because ongoing proceedings threaten to take Trump’s attention from the presidency.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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• Donald Trump
• New York