Judge Juan Merchan rejected President-elect Donald Trump‘s attempt to throw out his historic hush money conviction in the Empire State.
The New York judge denied the argument from Trump’s legal team that in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, the president-elect should be exempt from participating in any court proceedings relating to the case.
Saying the alleged evidence against Trump related “entirely to unofficial conduct” outside the scope of presidential immunity, Merchan wrote, “This Court concludes that if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt.”
“Even if this Court did find that the disputed evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of the Trump decision, which it does not, Defendant’s motion is still denied as introduction of the disputed evidence constitutes harmless error and no mode of proceedings error has taken place,” Merchan continued.
Trump’s conviction in May of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment made him the first U.S. president in history to be found guilty of a felony crime.
The president-elect has denied all allegations surrounding the conviction, framing the case brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as being rooted in the “weaponization” of the Biden administration’s Justice Department. Bragg and Biden, separately, have denied this charge.
Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced for the hush money case in July. However, his sentencing date was pushed back due to the impact of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, which Trump’s legal team has cited when engaging in back-and-forth appeals with Merchan for months.
The Trump team saw a boost in November when Merchan indefinitely postponed sentencing in the case to give both the president-elect and Bragg time to make arguments for and against dropping the case entirely.
However, Merchan’s ruling on Monday struck a blow to Trump’s argument that he is protected by the high court’s presidential immunity finding.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called the decision “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence,” in comments to the Washington Examiner.
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“This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed, as President Trump must be allowed to continue the Presidential Transition process, and execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this, or any other, Witch Hunt,” Cheung said. “The sooner these hoaxes end, the sooner our country can unite behind President Trump for the betterment of all Americans.”
The president-elect’s legal defense has also separately argued that the judge should toss the case because Trump won a second term in the Oval Office. Merchan has yet to rule on this.
