The president-elect’s attempt to overturn his guilty judgment on the grounds of presidential immunity was rejected by the New York judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s hush money trial.
Judge Juan Merchan wrote, “Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment and verdict is denied,” in a ruling on Monday.
After rejecting Trump’s claim that his election victory already grants him presidential protection, Merchan delivered the ruling. “This court does not agree,” he claimed in his letter.
Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, criticized the decision, saying it was a clear breach of the Supreme Court’s immunity judgment.
“This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed,” he stated.
In May, Trump was found guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business documents pertaining to a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has refuted Daniels’ claim that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006.
Following a Supreme Court decision weeks later that established a new criterion for presidential immunity, Trump’s lawyers had claimed that the indictment and the verdict should be overturned.
They argued that prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office shouldn’t have been permitted to show jurors documentation of Trump’s official actions, such as remarks made in public about the case. The prosecution retorted that the verdict should stand and that the evidence had no bearing on it.
Citing “the overwhelming evidence of guilt” provided by the district attorney’s office, Merchan concurred.
Furthermore, he stated that some of Trump’s “claims relate entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections.”
“[E]ven if this Court were to deem all of the contested evidence, both preserved and unpreserved, as official conduct falling within the outer perimeter of Defendant s Presidential authority, it would still find that the People s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch,” he stated.
In order to give Trump’s attempts to dismiss the case more time, Merchan delayed sentence last month. In his order on Monday, Merchan disclosed that Trump also has a pending argument including claims of juror misconduct, in addition to another, more expansive motion that is still waiting.
The type of wrongdoing was not specified in the order. Merchan directed lawyers on both sides to submit their letters regarding the matter in a public format with redactions.
A new sentencing date has not been set by him.
On January 20, Trump is expected to take the oath of office as president.
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