Judge rules Trump doesn't have presidential immunity protections if convicted on hush money charges

CNN-

Donald Trump's felony conviction in the New York hush money case should not be overturned because of the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity, Justice Juan Merchan ruled Monday.

Merchan's ruling rejected one of several avenues taken by Trump's lawyers to try to overturn Trump's guilty verdict in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The judge, however, did not rule on a motion by Trump's lawyers to throw out the conviction because Trump has now been elected president.

Instead, its 41-page ruling focused on the issue of presidential immunity.

Merchan wrote that the Supreme Court's ruling that Trump should have broad immunity for official acts while in office did not mean the conviction should be thrown out, ruling that evidence presented by the U.S. District Attorney's Office Manhattan were not related to Trump's official conduct as president.

The evidence challenged by Trump's lawyers, the judge wrote, concerned entirely unofficial conduct and should not receive any immunity protection.

“This Court concludes that if an error occurred regarding the presentation of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Mercan wrote. Even if this Court were to conclude that the challenged evidence constituted official acts under the auspices of the Trump decision, which it does not, Defendants' motion is still denied because the introduction of the challenged evidence constitutes harmless error and no No procedure mode error has occurred.

Trump transition spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that Mercans' decision was a direct violation of the Supreme Court's ruling on immunity and other long-standing case law.

Trump's lawyers will likely appeal Merchan's decision, one of several potential motions to dismiss the case that could leave the case stalled for months or even years. Merchan has yet to rule on Trump's argument that his status as president posed a legal impediment to pursuing criminal charges and the case should therefore be dismissed.

Trump has yet to be sentenced following his conviction in May. Prosecutors have already agreed that the president-elect would not be convicted while he is in office, but the district attorney's office has argued in its legal filings that the felony conviction should still stand. Prosecutors wrote that even if the sentence could be delayed or modified, overturning the jury's conviction would be an extreme and unwarranted remedy.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to payments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to repay a secret $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, in order to prevent him from talking about a previously alleged affair. the 2016 election. Trump has denied this affair.

Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July, but that was postponed twice due to the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling, pushing the sentencing date until after the election.

Trump's lawyers argued that the conviction should be thrown out based on the Supreme Court's ruling because prosecutors relied on evidence from Trump's official conduct in the White House.

Merchan rejected that claim in his ruling, writing that the disputed evidence was not related to Trump's official actions as president. In his ruling, Merchan reviewed several testimonies that Trump's lawyers said should not have been heard at trial because of the immunity ruling, including those from House aides Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout Blanche, as well as Cohen.

Merchan wrote that it was logical and reasonable to conclude that while the act of falsifying records to conceal payments so that the public would not be informed is decidedly an unofficial act, communications intended to further that same concealment should also be unofficial.

Merchan revealed in a letter to lawyers Monday that Trump's defense team had alleged juror misconduct earlier this month, but that Trump's team had not filed a motion to throw out the conviction on the basis allegations. The judge wrote that Trump's lawyers would have to file a proper motion if they wanted him to follow through on the request.

Details of the allegations could be published in documents filed by Merchan that ordered lawyers to publish about the alleged issue, with redactions.

Allegations of juror misconduct must be fully investigated. However, this Court is prohibited from deciding such claims based on mere hearsay and conjecture, Merchan wrote. This Court cannot permit the public filing of unsworn and admittedly contested declarations. Doing so would threaten the safety of jurors and violate the agreed order regulating the release of juror information.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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