When he takes office in January, Donald Trump will likely be a convicted felon. The efforts of his lawyers to overturn the verdict in the hush money trial have received a further setback.
The verdict in the hush money trial against US President-elect Donald Trump should not be overturned. A judge in New York decided that and rejected Trump's request. In his ruling, Judge Juan M. Merchan rejected most of Trump's claims that some of the evidence related to official acts – thereby violating the then-president's immunity.
Merchan ruled that even if this had been the case, he still concluded that the prosecution's decision to cite these actions as evidence “does not pose a risk of interference with the authority and function of the executive branch.”
Payment to porn actress
Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records in connection with a payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. The money was intended to silence Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign after she said she had a sexual relationship with the married Trump.
Trump denied Daniels' statements and any wrongdoing. A month after the ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents cannot be prosecuted for official actions – including things they did while running the country. Prosecutors cannot adduce these actions to the verdict to support a case involving purely personal, unofficial conduct.
Sentencing is still pending
After Trump's election victory in November, Judge Merchan postponed the announcement of the sentence in the trial indefinitely. The Republican's lawyers are demanding a complete end to the hush money proceedings and are citing the Supreme Court's decision. They argue that jurors in the hush money trial were given inadmissible evidence, such as Trump's presidential financial disclosure form and statements from some White House staffers. Prosecutors disagreed, saying the evidence in question made up only “a fraction” of their case.
Trump communications director Steven Cheung called Merchan's ruling a “direct violation of the Supreme Court's decision.” This illegal case should never have been filed and the Constitution requires that it be dismissed immediately, Cheung said.
Public Prosecutor's Office will not withdraw
The future of the case remains unclear overall. The prosecutor's office has indicated a conscientious accommodation for Trump's next presidency, but nevertheless announced that they wanted to avert all efforts to stop the proceedings. Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted felon elected to the office.
