Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday evening that President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money conviction should not be dismissed on the grounds of presidential immunity, rejecting arguments from Trump’s legal team based on a recent Supreme Court decision, CNN reported.
Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts in late May for falsifying business records regarding money payments to cover up extramarital affairs from being revealed during the 2016 campaign. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, which was then delayed until September 18, and then again until after the election. Trump is facing up to four years behind bars, although many legal observers expect his sentence as a first-time offender would be far shorter, or even only probation with no jail time.
In the wake of a Supreme Court opinion finding that presidents did have immunity for “official acts” conducted while in office, Trump has argued that his conviction in this case — as well as his other pending criminal cases — should be tossed out. This argument has met with skepticism from legal experts who have pointed out that the New York case centered around his conduct before he was elected. However, as The New York Times noted, Trump’s lawyers have argued that prosecutors “built their case partly on evidence from his time in the White House.”
In his 41-page opinion, Merchan rejected this argument, writing that the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity did not apply to this case, because the evidence presented by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office was related “entirely to unofficial conduct entitled to no immunity protections,” and not Trump’s official acts as president.
“This Court concludes that if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” wrote Merchan. “Even if this Court did find that the disputed evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of the Trump decision, which it does not, Defendant’s motion is still denied as introduction of the disputed evidence constitutes harmless error and no mode of proceedings error has taken place.”
It was “logical and reasonable to conclude that if the act of falsifying records to cover up the payments so that the public would not be made aware is decidedly an unofficial act, so too should the communications to further that same cover-up be unofficial,” the judge added.
Merchan had already delayed sentencing multiple times, including a September ruling that pushed it until after the election.
CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid reported that Trump’s legal team had vowed to appeal this ruling, as well as continuing to pursue another motion to dismiss the conviction on the grounds that Trump was re-elected president.
This is a breaking news story and has been updated with additional content.
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