US court rules Trump can seek dismissal of hush money case

A New York judge on Friday gave Donald Trump permission to seek dismissal of his hush money criminal case after he was found guilty on multiple counts regarding payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The 78-year-old Trump was due to be sentenced on November 26, less than a month after his victory in the US presidential election.

The sentencing was delayed and the judge gave Trump until December 2 to file his motion to dismiss. Prosecutors were given until a week after that to respond. A new sentencing date was not given.

What is the Stormy Daniels hush money case?

Trump was convicted in May on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The $130,000 (€125,000) paid by Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen was meant to prevent Daniels from disclosing an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier.

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The conviction made Trump the first sitting or former US president to be found guilty of criminal charges.

Trump has repeatedly denied having an affair with the porn actress and paying her to stay silent.

Big win for Trump

Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung hailed it as "a decisive win" for Trump.

The Republican leader has been fighting against any effort to sentence him before his return to the White House in January.

Lawyers for Trump have argued that the case should be dismissed because having it loom over him while he is president would cause "unconstitutional impediments" to his ability to govern.

Prosecutors said they're open to putting the case on hold, perhaps as long as he's in office, but they don't want it to be dismissed altogether.

By getting a judge's permission to have the conviction thrown out, Trump could now have several further hearings delayed once he is sworn in.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the case as a witch hunt, saying it "should be rightfully terminated."

Alongside the hush money case, Trump faces two other federal legal cases.

One of them relates to his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and the other is connected to classified documents he allegedly mishandled after leaving office.

nm/dj (AFP, Reuters)