Donald Trump returns to attack the judges after months of silence and this time he does so by targeting Juan Merchan, the judge who had found him guilty of paying the former porn star Stormy Daniels not to reveal their extramarital affair. “He completely disrespected the Supreme Court and its historic immunity decision,” the president-elect wrote on his Truth social network, adding that regardless of the presidential immunity ruling, the case is “illegitimate.” Trump is referring to the conservative Supreme Court’s decision in July that said presidents have absolute immunity for all actions that fall within the primary responsibilities of their office, and are presumptively immune for all other official acts. . For months, Trump has been trying to permanently cancel his conviction for trying to bribe Daniels, appealing the presidential immunity guaranteed by the Supreme Court. Merchan instead argues that Trump’s conduct “is entirely unofficial and as a result he receives no immunity protection.”
THE DECISION
For now, Merchan has not considered Trump’s lawyers’ request to cancel the case altogether now that he is the president-elect. Attacking Merchan, Trump said the choice of judge who found him guilty on 34 charges was “completely illegal,” calling it “a psychotic decision,” saying the judge was incompetent and biased. Judge Merchan will not have the final say on the immunity issue, and Trump can now appeal his decision. Even if Trump loses in New York’s appellate courts, he could ultimately take the matter to a court more favorable to him: the Supreme Court, where the 6-3 conservative majority includes three Trump-appointed justices during his first term. Furthermore, immunity is not the only path to overturning the New York conviction. Trump also sought to use his election victory to drop the proceedings, citing a 1963 law that reiterates the importance of a smooth presidential transition, as well as a long-standing Justice Department policy that a sitting president cannot be federally indicted.
THE ELECTIONS
The New York illegal payments case was the first criminal case against a former U.S. president and the only one to go to trial. The other cases against Trump have progressively diminished after his election victory. For example, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith dismissed all federal charges against Trump, both those related to attempting to subvert the election results and those involving classified documents. Meanwhile, the criminal case in Georgia against the president-elect is stalled indefinitely as an appeals court considers a defense appeal. Even in that case, Trump’s lawyers are trying to have him permanently dismissed. Meanwhile, Trump is attacking the media directly with a series of trials: he sued, and won, against the ABC network and has now taken the local newspaper Des Moines Register and one of its pollsters to court, guilty according to Trump of trying to influence the elections. Finally, Trump also plans to open proceedings against the CBS broadcast 60 Minutes for having “privileged Kamala Harris”.
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