Donald Trump’s big move in hush money case after Supreme Court immunity ruling
Donald Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime in May – now he has requested the judge to throw out his guilty verdict.
Former President Donald Trump has asked the Manhattan judge in his hush money case to throw out his guilty verdict in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that granted him absolute immunity for official acts committed as president.
The request came in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan on Monday (local time) sent by the 78-year-old former president’s lawyers, which asks the jurist for permission to file a motion to postpone Trump’s July 11 sentencing and dismiss the case,New York Post confirmed.
Trump’s legal team is required to notify Merchan in writing before any motions related to the case can be filed.
The letter is expected to be made public on Tuesday, after which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will be given a chance to respond.
The request, first reported by the New York Times, came 10 days before Trump is expected to be sentenced in the case where he was convicted by a jury of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records during his 2016 presidential campaign in an effort to keep an alleged sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels out of the public sphere.
The defence team’s missive asks Merchan to consider how the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling impacts Trump’s historic May 30 conviction.
The high court’s ruling prevents prosecutors from charging a president for any official acts or using evidence involving official acts to further a prosecution.
The Supreme Court, however, left it up to lower courts to determine what constitutes an official act.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
A lawyer for Trump declined to comment.
Trump had argued in previous court filings that his social media posts about former fixer Michael Cohen — a key witness for the prosecution – came from his time in the White House and should have been excluded from the trial because of presidential immunity.
It’s unclear if Merchan will revisit the conviction as the deadline for filing post-trial motions has already passed.
The presumptive Republican nominee for president hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday, calling it a “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY” in a Truth Social post.
Meanwhile, a Biden campaign official likened the high court’s ruling to giving the former president “the keys to a dictatorship.”
President Biden also slammed the court’s 6-3 decision, which will further delay Trump’s federal 2020 election subversion case.
“The man who sent that mob to the US Capitol is facing potential criminal conviction for what happened that day and the American people deserve to have an answer in the courts before the upcoming election,” the 81-year-old president said in remarks from the White House on Monday.
“The public has a right to know the answer about what happened on January 6 before they are asked to vote again this year,” he added.
“Now, because of today’s decision, that is highly, highly unlikely,” Biden said. “It’s a terrible disservice to the people of this nation.”
This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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