Former President Trump has made his formal effort to overturn his criminal conviction following the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, claiming he is being treated “unfairly and illegally.”
O 52-page summarymade public on Thursday, insists that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (DANY) improperly brought evidence protected by presidential immunity.
Trump’s lawyers are asking New York judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the recent trial, to not only throw out the guilty verdict but also dismiss last year’s indictment.
“The record is clear: DANY was wrong, very wrong,” wrote Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove. “Be that as it may, Your Honor now has the authority to resolve these injustices, and the Court has a duty to do so in light of the Supreme Court’s decision.”
In late May, a New York jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts of falsifying business records with the intent to illegally influence the 2016 election by disguising refunds to his then-middleman, Michael Cohen, as a legal agent. Shortly before Trump won the presidency, Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair with Trump. Trump denies any affair.
The Supreme Court’s decision last week, which granted at least supposed criminal immunity to the official acts of presidents, gave Trump a new avenue to try to overturn his verdict.
Unlike in his other three criminal cases, Trump did not argue that he was immune from his own bribery charges. But the Supreme Court ruling prevents prosecutors from presenting protected acts as evidence, even if the charges concern unofficial conduct.
Trump claims prosecutors improperly cited official acts as evidence in both his blockbuster trial this spring and last year’s grand jury proceedings that led to the first indictment of a former president in U.S. history.
The evidence in question includes one of Trump’s government ethics forms, some of his tweets issued while in office and testimony from two of his White House aides.
The former president’s lawyers argue that much of this involved “core” executive functions, which the Supreme Court has made clear are absolutely protected.
“In order to vindicate the doctrine of presidential immunity and protect the interests implicated in its foundations, the jury verdicts must be vacated and the indictment dismissed,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
The petition was filed on Wednesday and made public on Thursday, the same day as Trump’s originally scheduled sentencing. His judge adjourned sentencing until September 18 so he could first consider the immunity argument.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), which did not oppose the delay, previously signaled it believes the conviction should be upheld. They are expected to respond in lawsuits later this month.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
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