Trump seeks to toss NY felony conviction after immunity win

Trump intends to argue that key elements of the New York case are related to events that took place while he was president, even though the case is rooted in his actions as a candidate for the White House in 2016.

Trump was convicted by a Manhattan state jury in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records after he directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to pay $130,000 to adult-film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. He could face as long as four years in prison.

Prosecutors argued Trump reimbursed Cohen for the hush money scheme with several payments recorded as “legal services” in company books. Testimony showed Trump later signed some reimbursement checks while he was in the White House in 2017. The jury rejected Trump’s claims the money was for actual legal work.

Last year, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York rejected Trump’s claim he had immunity from prosecution after presiding over the former president’s bid to move the hush money case to federal court.

Personal Lawyer

Trump argued to Hellerstein that his federal immunity was based on his decision to retain Cohen as his personal lawyer after he was elected president. But Hellerstein concluded Trump’s lawyers failed to show that the behavior at issue — reimbursements to Cohen to keep Daniels silent — was somehow related to the office of the presidency.

Hellerstein wrote that the evidence overwhelmingly suggested the case involved something personal to the president: “a cover-up of an embarrassing event.”

“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts,” Hellerstein said. “It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties.”

Merchan in March rejected Trump’s argument he was immune from prosecution, concluding the former president’s request was “untimely” because he waited nearly six months, until just days before the trial was set to begin, to pose that argument, even though he’d made that same argument in the Jan. 6 case before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in D.C.