Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump urged the judge in his New York hush money case to dismiss his conviction following the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity last month, according to a new court filing.
DETAILS OF THE ARGUMENT
Trump’s lawyers argued in a 55-page filing that the jury’s guilty verdict should be vacated because the district attorney’s office relied on evidence at trial related to Trump’s official acts as president, which Trump’s lawyers asserted should not have been permitted in light of the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision.
‘In order to vindicate the Presidential immunity doctrine, and protect the interests implicated by its underpinnings, the jury’s verdicts must be vacated and the Indictment dismissed,’ Trump’s attorneys wrote to Judge Juan Merchan.
The Manhattan district attorney ‘violated the Presidential immunity doctrine and the Supremacy Clause by relying on evidence relating to President Trump’s official acts in 2017 and 2018 to unfairly prejudice President Trump in this unprecedented and unfounded prosecution relating to purported business records,’ Trump’s attorneys wrote.
He continued, ‘Much of the unconstitutional official-acts evidence concerned actions taken pursuant to ‘’core’’ Executive power for which ‘’absolute’’ immunity applies.’
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COURT RULING LAST WEEK
Just last week, Merchan postponed Trump’s sentencing to allow Trump to file his motion to dismiss the guilty verdict.
The district attorney’s office will respond later this month, and Merchan said he will decide the matter in September, with a potential sentencing scheduled on September 18, if necessary.
Merchan had initially set Thursday as the day that Trump would be sentenced following his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, when Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a felony.
But that schedule was scrapped after the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity last month.
The ruling said that presidents have absolute immunity for core official acts.
