NEW YORK: Lawyers for Donald Trump on Thursday asked the judge who presided over his hush money trial to throw out his conviction, citing the recent Supreme Court ruling that a former US president enjoys broad immunity from prosecution.
“The jury’s verdicts must be vacated and the indictment dismissed,” Trump’s attorneys said in a court filing with New York Judge Juan Merchan.
Trump, 78, was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged she had a sexual encounter with the real estate tycoon.
Trump’s lawyers, in asking Merchan for the conviction to be dismissed, cited the landmark Supreme Court ruling from earlier this month that a president enjoys “absolute immunity” for official acts.
Some of the evidence introduced by prosecutors during the hush money trial involved actions taken while Trump was in the White House and testimony from White House aides, they said.
Trump, who is expected to be formally named the Republican Party nominee for president next week, had been scheduled to be sentenced in the case on Thursday, but Merchan postponed sentencing following the Supreme Court ruling.
Merchan said he will rule on the Trump dismissal motion on September 6 and hold sentencing — if still necessary — on September 18.
Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg said in an earlier court filing that he was not opposed to the sentencing delay, but that he believed the “defendant’s (dismissal) arguments to be without merit.”
Trump, the first former US president convicted of a crime, faces four criminal cases and has been doing everything in his power to delay the trials until after the November election.
He faces charges in Washington and Georgia related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump is also accused in an indictment filed in Florida of endangering national security by holding onto top secret documents after leaving the White House.
