President-elect Donald Trump, at the time a candidate for president, speaks on May 28, 2022 in Casper, Wyoming. (Photo by Chet Strange/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Consequences for President-elect Donald Trump’s guilty conviction in a New York state case will be years away, as prosecutors signaled they will not oppose suspending the lawsuit while the incoming 47th president carries out his four years in the Oval Office.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote Tuesday that he will fight Trump’s request to toss the case altogether. But Bragg said he will not get in the way of a stay, or pause, on the proceedings.

“Given the need to balance competing constitutional interests, consideration must be given to various non-dismissal options that may address any concerns raised by the pendency of a post-trial criminal proceeding during the presidency, such as deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term,” Bragg wrote in a memo that had been due Tuesday to New York Judge Juan Merchan.

Bragg requested that motions be due Dec. 9. Trump still has a criminal sentencing date on the calendar for Nov. 26, unless Merchan orders otherwise.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung declared “a total and definitive victory” in a statement issued shortly after Bragg’s letter became public.

“The Manhattan DA has conceded that this Witch Hunt cannot continue. The lawless case is now stayed, and President Trump’s legal team is moving to get it dismissed once and for all,” said Cheung.

History-making conviction

Trump, the first former president to become a convicted felon, was found guilty in May of 34 felonies for falsifying business records related to paying off porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to hide a decade-old sexual encounter with her at a Lake Tahoe golf club.

The likely delay of Trump’s sentencing while he serves as president brings to a close, if temporarily, the only one of Trump’s criminal cases that went to trial.

The case, brought by Bragg’s office, was among four criminal cases the then-former president faced as he campaigned to again occupy the Oval Office. Trump also faced several civil lawsuits and now stares down roughly half a billion dollars in damages for committing fraud, defamation and sexual abuse.

As Trump readies to take the oath of office in just two months, U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith’s office is also winding down its two federal cases against Trump, as the department does not prosecute sitting presidents.

The federal cases include fraud and obstruction charges stemming from Trump’s actions to undermine his 2020 election loss, which culminated in a violent attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The other case, appealed by Smith after a federal judge tossed it, revolved around charges that the then-former president unlawfully took and stockpiled classified documents at his Florida Mar-a-Lago estate upon leaving the White House.

Not the first delay in NY

Each of the 34 class E felonies Trump is convicted of carries a penalty of up to four years, according to the New York penal code.

Trump’s sentencing date was twice delayed. Merchan granted Trump’s request in September to delay the criminal sentencing until after November’s presidential election.

Merchan had already delayed Trump’s initial July sentencing date following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision ordering that former presidents are immune from criminal charges for core constitutional duties, and presumed immune for other actions while in office. The court’s opinion also brought into question what types of evidence can be admitted in criminal cases against former presidents.

Trump asked Merchan to “set aside” the guilty verdict almost immediately after the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. Merchan has yet to rule on the motion.

New York prosecutors and Trump’s defense team on Nov. 12 jointly asked Merchan to delay all proceedings while the prosecutors decide if and how their case would proceed following Trump’s election victory.

President-elect Donald Trump, at the time the Republican candidate for president, appears in court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — All court proceedings for President-elect Donald Trump’s guilty conviction in New York are now paused, as the prosecution examines moving forward with the case against the man who will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

New York Judge Juan Merchan stayed all actions Monday in the People of New York v. Donald J. Trump until Nov. 19, according to email correspondence between all parties that was published by the court.

U.S. special counsel Jack Smith has similarly requested a federal judge to delay proceedings in Trump’s 2020 election interference case.

Trump, who was found guilty by a jury in late May of 34 felonies in falsifying business, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26.

Merchan has yet to rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling that triggered questions over what evidence against a former president can or cannot be admitted to a court of law.

Delay sought

Merchan granted the delay in response to a joint application from both the District Attorney of New York’s office and Trump’s defense team, which wants the case altogether dismissed.

New York prosecutor Matthew Colangelo informed Merchan in an email Sunday that Trump’s team requested on Friday the state delay the case “to provide time to review and consider a number of arguments based on the impact on this proceeding from the results of the Presidential election.”

Colangelo agreed the “unprecedented circumstances” presented by Trump’s election victory “require careful consideration to ensure that any further steps in this proceeding appropriately balance the competing interests of (1) a jury verdict of guilt following trial that has the presumption of regularity; and (2) the Office of the President.”

Colangelo asked Merchan to give him until Nov. 19 to decide how and whether the prosecution will move forward.

Later Sunday morning, Trump attorney Emil Bove followed with an email to Merchan agreeing with the prosecution’s deadline request.

“The stay, and dismissal, are necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern, which is the broader argument that we made to DANY on Friday,” Bove wrote.

34 felony charges

Trump made history as the first former president to become a convicted felon when the New York jury on May 30 found him guilty on all 34 felony charges for covering up hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The trial that stretched throughout the spring featured witness testimony from Daniels about a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 at a Lake Tahoe golf resort.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was also called by the prosecution to give an account of Trump’s concealment of 11 invoices, 11 checks and 12 ledger entries to repay Cohen for the $130,000 in hush money he paid to Daniels.

Trump slammed the trial and conviction as a “scam,” and Republicans showed resounding support for the former president during and after the proceedings, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, calling the verdict a “shameful day in American history.”