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Former US President Donald Trump leaves the courthouse after a jury found him guilty of all 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in the New York State Supreme Court, New York, USA, on May 30 Trump faced 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Justin Lane | Via Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday lost a bid to have his hush money criminal conviction thrown out in a New York court over a claim of presidential immunity.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchán dismissed arguments by Trump’s lawyers that the prosecution’s use of testimony from former White House staffers at the trial and before that before a grand jury, as well as other evidence, forced him to dismiss the case.
Merchan has yet to rule on other claims by Trump’s lawyers that they say justify dismissing his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, claims that include Trump’s election as president in November for a second term. consecutive.
It is unclear when Trump could be sentenced if Merchan rejects the remaining arguments for dismissal.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Trump, has suggested to the judge the possibility of postponing the sentence until after he leaves the White House, or assuring him that he will not be sentenced to prison.
Trump’s lawyers in the claim rejected by Merchan on Monday cited a US Supreme Court decision in July that found that Trump – and other US presidents – have presumptive criminal immunity for official acts in office.
But Merchan in his ruling said that even if he found that all of the evidence challenged by Trump’s lawyers “was official conduct that falls within the outer perimeter of the defendant’s presidential authority,” he would still find that the prosecution’s use as proof “of the decision decidedly Personal acts of falsification of business records do not represent any danger of intrusion into the authority and function of the Executive Branch.”
“Finally, this Court concludes that if an error occurred in the introduction of the challenged evidence, said error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchán wrote in the 41-page ruling.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche on Monday asked Merchan to postpone the president-elect’s sentencing in the case until all appeals are exhausted.
Trump became the first former president convicted of a crime when he was found guilty of the charges in May in Manhattan Supreme Court, a state-level trial court.
The falsified records were related to a $130,000 payment that Trump’s then-personal attorney, Michael Cohen, made to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. Cohen, who was later repaid by Trump, has said the payment was in exchange for Daniels agreeing to remain silent about an alleged sexual tryst with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump has denied having sexual relations with Daniels.
The payment came before Trump was first elected president. But some evidence at trial was related to Trump’s tenure in the White House.
Trump transition spokesman Steven Cheung, in a statement obtained by NBC News, said: “Today’s decision by the deeply conflicted Acting Judge Merchan in the Manhattan District Attorney’s witch hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court decision on immunity and other long-standing jurisprudence.”
“This illegal case should never have been brought, and the Constitution requires that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the presidential transition process and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unhindered by his remains, or any other, Witch Hunt,” Cheung said.
