Donald Trump’s lawyers plan to seek to have his criminal conviction from May overturned for paying bribes to a porn star, according to the New York Times, because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week on presidential immunity.
The Times, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, said Monday that the letter seeking permission to file the motion would not be made public until Tuesday at the earliest and that it comes ahead of a sentencing scheduled for July 11.
The justices wrote in a landmark ruling Monday that Mr. Trump could not be sued for acts within his constitutional powers as president, but he could be sued for private acts.
The decision virtually guaranteed that the Republican presidential nominee would not face trial before the Nov. 5 election on federal criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
In the court filing in the New York case, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said the ruling meant the jury’s verdict finding him guilty of concealing a $130,000 payment made by his former lawyer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels should not stand, the Times reported, and asked to postpone sentencing from next week.
The payment to Daniels was made shortly before the 2016 presidential election. However, Mr. Trump’s lawyers are likely to highlight some evidence used in the case that dates from Mr. Trump’s time in the White House, according to the Times.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty and vowed to appeal his May 30 conviction – the first criminal trial of a US president, past or present – after the sentence was handed down in New York state court in Manhattan.
Prosecutors in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office have argued that Mr. Trump ordered the payment to keep Ms. Daniels silent about their alleged 2006 sexual encounter so as not to hurt his 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump, who denies having sex with Ms. Daniels, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton that year.
