Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked to overturn his criminal conviction in New York for making covert payments to a porn star, citing a recent Supreme Court ruling that grants the former president broad immunity.
The highest American court with a conservative majority recognized the 1er July, in an unprecedented decision, a certain criminal immunity for the president, a victory for Donald Trump facing four criminal cases, a few months before the election which will pit him against Joe Biden.
“The jury’s verdicts should be set aside and the indictment dismissed,” Trump’s lawyers said in a document filed Thursday with the judge overseeing his trial in New York, Juan Merchan.
The Republican was convicted May 30 of 34 counts of falsifying accounting records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to avoid a sex scandal at the tail end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
A historic trial: Donald Trump is the first former president of the United States to be convicted in criminal court.
Sentencing in the case was due to be handed down on Thursday, but that stage of the trial was postponed following the Supreme Court ruling. Justice Merchan said he would rule on the motion to vacate the case on September 6, but if it were rejected, sentencing would be handed down on September 18.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had previously told the court that he was not opposed to delaying sentencing, but said “the defendant’s arguments” in his request to vacate the conviction were “without merit.”
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