Donald Trump: Judge rules presidential immunity protections do not stand in hush money case
A judge on Monday ruled that Donald Trump’s conviction for falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal should stand, rejecting the US president-elect’s argument that a recent Supreme Court ruling over presidential protection nullified the verdict, a court filing showed.
Mr Trump’s lawyers argued that having the case hanging over him during his presidency would impede his ability to govern.
He was initially scheduled to be sentenced on November 26, but Justice Merchan pushed that back indefinitely after Mr Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.In a 41-page decision, Justice Merchan said Mr Trump’s “decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the executive branch.”
Mr Trump’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which brought the case, said there were measures short of the “extreme remedy” of overturning the jury’s verdict that could assuage Trump’s concerns about being distracted by a criminal case while serving as president.
The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment that Mr Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels. The payment was for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment.
It was the first time a US president - former or sitting - had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence.
