NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s lawyers asked the New York judge who presided over his silent money trial annul his conviction and postpone his sentencing, scheduled for next week.
The letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan cited the US Supreme Court ruling on Monday morning and asked the judge to delay Trump’s sentencing while he considers the high court’s ruling and how it could influence the New York case, according to the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The lawyers argue that the Supreme Court’s decision confirmed a position previously raised by the defense in the case, that prosecutors should have been prevented from presenting some evidence that they said constituted official presidential acts, according to the letter.
In previous court filings, Trump has argued that he is immune from prosecution for conduct that allegedly involved official acts during his time in office. His lawyers have not raised this as a defense in the silence case, but have argued that some evidence — including Trump’s social media posts about former lawyer Michael Cohen — come from his time as president and should have been excluded from the trial because of Immunity. protections.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment on the matter Monday night.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, extending the delay in Washington’s criminal case against the former Republican president over allegations that he conspired to reverse his defeat in the 2020 elections.
Trump was convicted in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a secret payment to a porn star just before the 2016 presidential election. hush money on July 11th.
Merchan instituted a pre-trial policy requiring both sides to send him a one-page letter summarizing their arguments before filing longer lawsuits. He said he did this to better manage the agenda, so as not to be inundated with voluminous paperwork.
By denying Trump’s attempt to move the trial from New York state court to federal court last year, a federal judge discovered that the allegations at the center of the case concerned Trump’s personal life and do not “in any way reflect the color of the President’s official duties.”
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely personal item for the President – a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote in the ruling.
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Sisak contributed from Fort Pierce, Florida.
