Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are arguing that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg falsely delayed prosecuting him in order to damage him, giving this as a reason why the charges should be dropped. 

“The delay has prejudiced President Trump, interfered with his ongoing presidential campaign, and violated his due process rights,” they wrote.

Charges came "more than six years after public reporting regarding the facts at issue, and almost five years after commencing a grand jury investigation and accessing substantially all of the relevant evidence," they continued.

Prosecutors may be asked by the judge to divulge when they discovered facts about the case that led to charges being filed and why they waited as long as they did to charge Trump.

Relevant factors

New York has long recognized the right to prompt prosecution, but this is only one set of grounds Trump's lawyers have given for the case to be dropped.

They also argue that Bragg should not have done an end run around the statute of limitations by somehow turning the charges into felonies when they are normally misdemeanors. Misdemeanors for falsifying business records have a five-year statute of limitations, which has now passed.

Trumps' lawyers' motions make perfect sense, but Judge Juan Merchan may not give him a fair shake because he's a staunch liberal and Trump is a hated conservative.

The New York Court of Appeals recently decided that another case, People V. Regan, should be dismissed because it took prosecutors four years to bring charges.

The judge could also base a decision on whether the defendant spent any time in jail while awaiting trial, which would not be a factor in Trump's case since he was arraigned and released.

Wild ride

It is in Trump's interest to delay his cases or get them dismissed to avoid a public trial (or four) right before the election.

The last thing he needs, assuming he is nominated in 2024, is for one of these liberal prosecutors to get a conviction against him right before the election, which polls suggest would hurt his chances of winning.

He is working on getting delays in some of the other trials to postpone them until after the election.

It is usually not that difficult to delay a trial. If the trials can be delayed until after the election, they may not be able to proceed until after 2028 if he is elected, because it is generally not allowable to charge a sitting president with a crime.

Democrats would have a grand time impeaching him every six months if he were re-elected, assuming they regain control of the House.

Whatever happens, it's going to be a wild ride.