Former US President Donald Trump leaves court after a jury found him guilty of all 34 criminal charges at his criminal trial in the New York State Supreme Court in New York, New York, USA, on May 30, 2024. Trump faced 34 criminal charges related to falsifying business records. With payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Justin Lin | Via Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday lost a bid to have his hush money criminal conviction dismissed in a New York court on the grounds of presidential immunity.
Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan ignored arguments made by Trump's lawyers that the prosecution's use of testimony from former White House employees at trial and before that before a grand jury, in addition to other evidence, required him to dismiss the case.
Merchan has not yet ruled on other claims made by Trump's lawyers that they say warrant dismissal of his conviction on 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records — allegations that include Trump's election as president in November for a second non-consecutive term.
It is not clear when Trump might be sentenced if Merchan rejects remaining arguments for his impeachment.
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Trump, suggested to the judge that he could postpone sentencing until after he left the White House, or assure him that he would not be sentenced to prison.
In the lawsuit that Merchan dismissed on Monday, Trump's lawyers cited a July US Supreme Court decision that found Trump – and other US presidents – enjoyed presumptive criminal immunity for official acts in office.
But Merchan said in his ruling that even if he found that all of the evidence Trump's lawyers objected to “was official conduct that fell within the outer sphere of the defendant's presidential authority,” he would still find that the prosecution's use as evidence “that personal acts of falsifying business records do not constitute Any risk of intrusion into the authority and function of the executive branch.”
“Finally, this court concludes that if an error occurred with respect to the presentation of the challenged evidence, such error is harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchan wrote in the 41-page ruling.
Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche on Monday asked Merchan to postpone sentencing the president-elect 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 in May of the charges in Manhattan Supreme Court, a state court.
The falsified records relate to a $130,000 payment that Trump's then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to adult film star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. Cohen, who was later reimbursed by Trump, said the payment was in exchange for Daniels' agreement to remain silent about an alleged sexual encounter. One with Trump a decade ago.
Trump denied having sex with Daniels.
The payment was made before Trump was first elected president. But some of the evidence in the trial was related to Trump's tenure in the White House.
“Today’s decision by the deeply conflicted Acting Judge Merchant in the Manhattan witch hunt case is in direct violation of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling and other existing case law,” Trump transition spokesman Stephen Cheung said in a statement obtained by NBC News. “For a long time.”
“This lawless case should never have been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be dismissed immediately, and President Trump should be allowed to continue the presidential transition process, carrying out the vital duties of the presidency, unhindered by the remnants of this, or anything else, a witch hunt,” Cheung said. “.
