Judge refuses to toss out Trump’s New York hush-money conviction
What’s New
A New York judge on Monday refused to toss out President-elect Donald Trump‘s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Why It Matters
The ruling from Judge Juan Merchan, who sits on New York Supreme Court, centered on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity.
After the Supreme Court issued its immunity ruling earlier this year, Trump’s lawyers argued that prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office had introduced evidence during his hush-money trial that was protected by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.
Evan Vucci/AP
But prosecutors said the high court’s decision had “no bearing” on the hush-money case since it related to Trump’s conduct before he was elected president.
Merchan sided with the prosecutors on Monday, writing that the conviction related to Trump’s personal conduct and not his actions as president.
“The People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch,” Merchan wrote in his Monday opinion.
What To Know
Trump was convicted in May on nearly three dozen criminal counts of falsifying business records in connection to a $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels that was made shortly before the 2016 U.S. election.
The jurors delivered their verdict after deliberating for less than ten hours over two days.
This story is breaking and will be updated as more information becomes available.
