Former President Donald Trump leaves court after a jury finds him guilty of all 34 felonies during his criminal trial at New York State Supreme Court, New York, USA, on May 30, 2024. . Records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump was charged with 34 felonies for business fraud.
Justin Lane via Reuter
President-elect Donald Trump lost an effort Monday in a New York court to dismiss his hush money conviction by claiming presidential immunity.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan said Trump was forced to throw out the case because prosecutors used testimony from former White House officials and other evidence at trial and before the grand jury. He dismissed the claims of his lawyers.
Mr. Marchan has not yet ruled on other arguments by Mr. Trump’s lawyers that he is justified in throwing out his convictions for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The claims include that Trump was elected president for a non-consecutive second term in November.
It is unclear when Trump will be sentenced if Marchand rejects the remaining arguments for removal.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which prosecuted Trump, suggested to the judge that he could either delay sentencing until he leaves the White House or guarantee that he would not be sentenced to prison.
In a claim that Marchand rejected on Monday, Trump’s lawyers argued that the U.S. Supreme Court in July found that Trump and other U.S. presidents have a presumption of immunity for official acts while in office. cited the judgment.
But Marchand wrote in his ruling that even if all of the evidence challenged by Trump’s lawyers turned out to be “official acts within the scope of the defendant’s presidential authority,” prosecutors could not “conclusively It will still be clear that the documents were used as “evidence,” he said. Personal acts of falsifying business records do not pose a risk of infringing on the powers and functions of the executive branch. ”
“Finally, this court concludes that even if there was an error in introducing the challenged evidence, such error is harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Marchand wrote. This was stated in the 41-page judgment.
President Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche asked Marchand on Monday to postpone ruling on the case against the president-elect until all appeals have been completed.
Trump was convicted in May by Manhattan Supreme Court, a state-level trial court, becoming the first former president to be convicted.
The falsified records related to a $130,000 payment made by President Trump’s then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. Cohen later received reimbursement from Trump, but said the payment was in exchange for Daniels agreeing to remain silent about her alleged one-time sexual encounter with Trump 10 years ago. Ta.
President Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.
The payments were made before Trump was first elected president. However, some of the evidence at trial was related to President Trump’s tenure in the White House.
“Today’s decision by Acting Judge Marchan, deeply contradictory in the Manhattan prosecutor’s witch hunt, is a direct result of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity and other “This is a direct violation of long-standing precedent.”
“This lawless lawsuit should never have been filed, and the Constitution requires that President Trump be allowed to continue the presidential transition process and carry out the important duties of the presidency unencumbered by the fallout from this incident.” We are demanding that this case be dismissed immediately to prevent this from happening.’Anything else is a witch hunt,’ Chan said.
