By Luc Cohen and Jack Queen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump on Monday lost a bid to overturn his criminal conviction stemming from money paid to a porn star for her silence, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling recognizing immunity from prosecution by the official acts of a president.
Judge Juan Merchán’s denial of Trump’s motion to dismiss the New York state case prevents the Republican president-elect from entering the White House on January 20 for his second four-year term untainted by a conviction. penal.
Trump’s lawyers are separately trying to have the verdict overturned on separate grounds following his defeat of Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election. Merchan has not yet commented on that motion.
In Monday’s 41-page decision, Merchan sided with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which brought the case. Prosecutors argued that their case concerned Trump’s personal conduct, not his official acts as president.
The judge said Trump’s prosecution for “decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion into the authority and function of the executive branch.”
In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called Merchan’s decision “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity.”
The case arose from a $130,000 payment that Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. The payment was for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
In May, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment. It was the first time that a former or sitting United States president had been convicted or charged with a criminal offense.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and called the case an attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to damage his 2024 campaign.
‘TOTALLY UNOFFICIAL CONDUCT’
The hush money case was the only one of four sets of criminal charges brought against Trump in 2023 that went to trial.
Federal cases over his efforts to change the outcome of the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents as he left office have been dismissed, under U.S. Justice Department policy that holds that presidents cannot be prosecuted. at the federal level.
Another criminal case against Trump over the 2020 election in Georgia state court is in limbo. He pleaded not guilty in all cases.
The Supreme Court, in a decision stemming from one of two federal cases against Trump, decided that presidents have immunity from prosecution for their official acts, and that jurors cannot be presented with evidence of official acts in personal conduct trials. . It was the first time the court recognized any degree of presidential immunity from prosecution.
Trump’s lawyers said prosecutors showed the New York jury that convicted him evidence of his social media posts as president and heard testimony from his former aides about conversations that occurred in the White House during his 2017-2021 term.
Prosecutors in Bragg’s office responded that the Supreme Court ruling has no bearing on the case, which they said involved “entirely unofficial conduct.” In its ruling, the Supreme Court found no immunity for the unofficial acts of a president.
‘EXTREME REMEDY’
Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced on November 26, but Judge Merchan postponed the sentencing indefinitely after his election victory.
Trump’s lawyers earlier this month filed a separate motion urging Merchan to dismiss the charges because having them on Trump while he served as president would impede his ability to govern.
Bragg’s office said there were steps short of the “extreme remedy” of overturning the jury’s verdict that could allay Trump’s concerns.
It is unclear when Merchan will govern.