A New York judge ruled Monday, December 16, against a bid by US President-elect Donald Trump to have his conviction for covering up hush money payments to a porn star thrown out on immunity grounds, local media reported.
Judge Juan Merchan said in the ruling that a Supreme Court decision granting presidents sweeping immunity for official acts did not apply as testimony at the trial related “entirely to unofficial conduct entitled to no immunity protections,” broadcaster CNN reported. The New York Times reported the same information.
Monday’s ruling raises the prospect that Trump could become the first president to enter the White House with a felony conviction, pending his appeal against the jury’s verdict. Trump has long opposed the criminal process brought against him after he paid a porn star for her silence and then covered up the payments in an effort to boost his chances in 2016’s election.
Read more New York prosecutors say they oppose dismissing Trump’s hush money conviction
The judge in the only criminal case against Trump that has gone to trial had indefinitely postponed Trump’s sentencing at a hearing on November 22, given his win in the November 5 presidential election.
Trump’s legal team had cited a landmark July ruling from the Supreme Court that gives US presidents sweeping immunity for official acts committed while in office as justification for their request to throw out this conviction. Prosecutors argued that Trump’s bid to have the case thrown out was “well beyond” what was needed to protect the presidency. Trump takes office January 20.
Trump communications director Steven Cheung on Monday called Merchan’s decision a “direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence.” “This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed,” Cheung said in a statement.
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