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For a good part of this past spring, Donald Trump<\/strong> spent his days in a drab Manhattan courtroom, reliving some of the more sordid aspects of his 2016 campaign. The past and future president watched as leading personalities from that micro-era\u2014Michael Cohen<\/a>, Stormy Daniels<\/a>, Hope Hicks<\/a><\/strong>\u2013testified while he looked on wordlessly, flanked by a new cast of trial supporters\u2014Matt Gaetz, JD Vance, Vivek Ramaswamy.<\/strong><\/p>\n In May, at the close of the month-long trial, Trump was convicted<\/a> on 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to cover up a hush-money payment to Daniels, who claimed to have had sex with him in 2006. (Trump has always denied the affair.) But his sentencing was delayed past this year\u2019s election. In the weeks since his victory, the various charges against the president-elect from multiple indictments have all but dissipated. Special counsel Jack Smith<\/strong>, who oversaw the federal cases against Trump, plans to wind down his work<\/a> and leave the Justice Department. The public appetite for continuation of any of the cases has largely disappeared. \u201cEnd the Criminal Cases Against Trump,\u201d read the headline of a recent New York Times<\/em> guest essay<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even Cohen\u2014a veteran Trump antagonist, if no longer a central one\u2014is now arguing for the hush-money case to be dismissed. On Tuesday, the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office proposed<\/a> delaying Trump\u2019s sentencing past his term ending in 2029. Cohen, the president-elect\u2019s former fixer who arranged for the payment to Daniels and who was the prosecution\u2019s star witness, wrote in an email to Vanity Fair<\/em> that he would go a step further.<\/p>\n It would be \u201cjudicious and cautious,\u201d Cohen wrote, for Justice Juan Merchan<\/strong>, the judge in the case, to accept the recommendation.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, Cohen said, \u201cThe American people have spoken and re-elected Donald Trump. Accordingly, I believe we must all acknowledge and respect the office of the Presidency and dismiss the case forthwith.\u201d<\/p>\n The hush-money payment to Daniels led to Cohen\u2019s falling-out with Trump and turned him into a national character\u2014he wrote a memoir on the subject and maintains a garrulous social media presence covering similar terrain. His testimony during the spring trial, penitent but firm, made for the most explosive viewing of the proceedings.<\/p>\n Along with the defense team, he was one of several lawyers in the courtroom whose fortunes have risen and fallen alongside Trump\u2019s. The president-elect recently named two of his current attorneys, Todd Blanche<\/strong> and Emil Bove,<\/strong> to top roles in the next administration\u2019s Justice Department.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n