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Former US President Donald Trump leaves court after a jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts in his criminal trial in New York State Supreme Court in New York, New York, US, on May 30, 2024. Trump was facing 34 felony counts of business fraud. records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Justin Lane | via Reuters
elected president donald trump on monday he lost an effort to have his criminal shut up the money conviction dismissed in a New York court on a suit by presidential immunity.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan dismissed arguments by Trump’s lawyers that the prosecution’s use of former White House staffers’ testimony during the trial and before a grand jury, as well as other evidence, forced him to throw out the case.
Merchan has yet to rule on other claims by Trump’s lawyers that they say justify throwing out his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, claims that include Trump’s election as president in November to a second nonconsecutive term .
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 delaying the sentence until after he leaves the White House, or to assure him that he will not be sentenced to prison.
Trump’s lawyers in the claim dismissed by Merchan on Monday cited a July U.S. Supreme Court decision that found Trump — and other U.S. presidents — have presumptive immunity from criminal charges for official acts in office.
But Merchan said in his ruling that even if he found that all the evidence challenged by Trump’s lawyers “was official conduct that fell within the outer perimeter of the defendant’s presidential authority,” he would still find that the prosecution’s use as evidence of “decided decision”. Personal acts of falsifying business records carry no danger of intrusion into the authority and function of the executive branch.”
“Finally, this Court concludes that if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, that error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchan wrote in the 41-page ruling .
Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, asked Merchan on Monday to delay the president-elect’s sentencing in the case until all appeals are exhausted.
Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a crime when he was found guilty of the charges in Manhattan Supreme Court, a state-level trial court, in May.
The falsified records were related to a $130,000 payment 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 reimbursed by Trump has said the payment was in exchange for Daniels’ agreement to keep quiet about an alleged one-time sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump has denied having sex with Daniels.
The payment occurred before Trump was first elected president. But some evidence in the trial was related to Trump’s tenure in the White House.
Trump’s transition spokesman Steven Cheung, in a statement obtained by NBC News, said: “Today’s decision by acting Judge Merchan, deeply conflicted, in the Manhattan DA witch hunt is a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity and other long-standing jurisprudence.”
“This lawless case should never have been filed, 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 , unencumbered by the remnants of this, or any other, witch hunt,” Cheung said.
