Gaetz Offers Bill Trump Could Use To Fight Hush-Money Case Sentencing While Running For President

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is pushing legislation that may give former President Donald Trump a tool against sentencing in the New York hush-money case while he runs for the White House.

The bill, called the “Prevention of Election Interference Act of 2024,” seeks to prevent “major party” presidential candidates from being sentenced in court for a state criminal offense 120 days prior to a general presidential election — a deadline that has already passed for this year — and 60 days after the contest.

“During the covered time period, a major party candidate may submit an application to a State or Federal court of jurisdiction demonstrating that” such a sentence “may interfere with the campaign activities of the major party candidate,” the legislation says.

For a “remedy,” the bill states, “Upon receipt of an application … the State or Federal court of jurisdiction shall amend a sentence relating to the major party candidate, including by staying the sentence for the duration of the covered period or vacating such sentence.”

Republicans control the House, but Democrats lead the Senate. And with President Joe Biden — who is now backing Vice President Kamala Harris to be his successor — in the White House, Gaetz’s bill faces long odds of being enacted.

In May, a jury convicted Trump on dozens of felony counts in a New York hush-money case. Sentencing has been postponed until at least September as Trump seeks to get the conviction thrown out. Trump is also facing a Georgia 2020 election case, which likely will not reach the trial phase before the November election.

Breitbart News, which first reported on Gaetz’s bill on Thursday, noted that Trump has repeatedly declared “election interference” when discussing the New York case.

“President Trump deserves the ability to campaign without undue interference by federal or state officials!” Gaetz said in a post to X. “Over the past two years, state officials and unelected bureaucrats have been keeping President Trump tied up in court with dubious charges, hindering his ability to campaign nationwide.”

Trump has broadly denied any wrongdoing and has argued that politically motivated prosecutors are conducting a “witch hunt” against him.

During a news conference after the verdict in the hush-money case, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that his team followed “the facts and the law without fear or favor,” and he thanked the jurors for performing a service that he described as “literally the cornerstone of our judicial system.”

On the federal level, special counsel Jack Smith was tasked with taking over the investigations into Trump’s retention of classified documents after leaving office and a second related to the 2020 election. Both have led to charges against Trump, but a judge tossed the classified documents case in mid-July. Smith has appealed the dismissal.

The Daily Wire broke the story in March that Gaetz was asking the independent watchdog of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Smith over whether the prosecutor is allowing the 2024 election to impact the timeline of his case against Trump.