MSNBC Legal Analyst Says She ‘Would Be Shocked If Judge Merchan Just Dismissed’ Trump Case After Sentencing Delay

MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg said Friday she would be stunned if Judge Juan Merchan tossed President-elect Donald Trump’s case following his decision to indefinitely delay the sentencing date.

Merchan issued an order Friday postponing Trump’s sentencing that he had scheduled for Tuesday, giving the defense until Dec. 2 to file its motion to dismiss the case and instructing prosecutors to respond by Dec. 9. Greenberg, on “Ana Cabrera Reports,” said the delay was unsurprising and predicted Merchan would sentence Trump after his term ends.

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“It’s not surprising that he is staying the sentencing, right? Both parties have requested that. Given that both parties have requested it, it would have been odd if he insisted on having it,” Greenberg said. “It is interesting … that he did not accept the briefing schedule proposed by defendants, which would have left the government to then have to spend their holidays responding and so he set a much quicker briefing schedule for this to be resolved as to whether or not this motion to dismiss the case entirely is actually going to be taken up and what that will look like.”

“I would be shocked if Judge Merchan just dismissed the case outright. There’s no basis for that. Nothing I’ve seen in the very short submission already from the defense cites to any legal authority suggesting that that should be the proper outcome to just toss a jury’s verdict because now Trump is going to be president again,” she continued. “I expect that Judge Merchan will deny that, but I do think that staying the proceedings is where we will be, and that this sentencing won’t take place until after his term is concluded.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a Tuesday filing suggested postponing remaining case proceedings until after Trump’s term ends in 2029.

“The People deeply respect the Office of the President, are mindful of the demands and obligations of the presidency and acknowledge that Defendant’s inauguration will raise unprecedented legal questions,” prosecutors wrote. “We also deeply respect the fundamental role of the jury in our constitutional system.”

Trump’s defense attorneys argued on Tuesday that Merchan must toss the case immediately “in order to facilitate the orderly transition of executive power following President Trump’s overwhelming victory in the 2024 Presidential election.”