Trump’s immunity claim fails to end New York hush money case

Though it’s unclear if the case will still proceed to sentencing as the president-elect continues to challenge the verdict.

Donald Trump failed to convince a judge to set aside his conviction in the New York hush money case on presidential immunity grounds, though it’s unclear if the case will still proceed to sentencing as the president-elect continues to challenge the verdict.

New York state court Justice Juan Merchan on Monday rejected Trump’s argument that the trial was tainted by testimony and other evidence that shouldn’t have been allowed under a July US Supreme Court decision that granted presidents broad immunity from criminal charges.

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Merchan said Trump failed to raise his immunity argument in a timely fashion and didn’t object to the use of certain evidence stemming from his time in the White House — such as testimony from former aide Hope Hicks — until the first day of trial on April 15. But he also ruled that even that testimony wasn’t subject to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former adult-film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The verdict on 34 felony counts made Trump the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

Prosecutors used evidence to prove “decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records” and that posed “no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch,” Merchan said.

Merchan said that any possible error in admitting evidence was harmless, in that it would not have changed the “overwhelming evidence of guilt” against Trump. Merchan also rejected arguments from the Trump team that the Supreme Court decision took the case out of his hands and blocked his authority to rule on it.

Trump’s lawyers and representatives of his presidential transition team didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Merchan’s decision.

Stormy Daniels exits from Federal Court in New York in 2018.

Prison or probation?

Trump, 78, faces as long as four years behind bars, though many experts have predicted all along — even before the election — that he would likely get far less time than that or even just probation. The case is the only one of four criminal prosecutions to go to trial but also bogged Trump down during his campaign.

Even so, Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case was immediately placed in doubt when he won the Nov. 5 contest against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

While the White House does not have any authority over state cases, Trump’s lawyers have asked Merchan to throw out the case. They argue that allowing it to proceed would violate the Constitution by undermining the US presidency. Merchan must also still decide if he’s going to delay sentencing Trump until after he finishes his second term in office, as prosecutors have sought.

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Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court held in July that former presidents are largely immune from charges over conduct that falls within their official duties in office. The hush money case was focused on Trump’s conduct before he was in office — a scheme to keep tabloid stories from being published — but his lawyers argued the immunity ruling nevertheless had an impact.

“The criminal charges here stem from the private acts of the defendant made prior to taking the office of the president,” the judge wrote Monday.

Merchan said any conversations Trump had with Hicks while she was White House Communications Director about Daniels was “about personal matters involving an alleged affair and a sexual encounter that occurred prior” to his becoming president. The judge added that these matters are “not ‘the greatest public interests’ the Supreme Court contemplated when it wrestled with a president’s ability to deal fearlessly and impartially with the duties of his office.”

Justice department

Separately, the Justice Department ended its two criminal cases against Trump on Nov. 25, citing a department policy that states the indictment or prosecution of a sitting President would “unconstitutionally undermine” their ability to serve in office. Meanwhile, a Georgia state case accusing the president of election interference has stalled over Trump’s challenges.

Merchan doesn’t have the final word as Trump can appeal his decisions to a midlevel state appeals court in Manhattan, and then up to the New York State Court of Appeals.

Even if Trump loses in New York, he could ask the US Supreme Court to review the case.

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