A New York judge Monday upheld President-elect Donald Trump’s felony conviction for falsifying records to cover up a “hush money” sex scandal, rejecting his claim that a sweeping recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity had nullified his Manhattan criminal case.
For now, the ruling by Judge Juan Merchan keeps in place Trump’s criminal conviction, though the former and future president, through a spokesman, immediately vowed to fight it.
If Merchan’s ruling is upheld, Trump will make history on January 20, 2025, as the first criminal felon to occupy the White House and serve as president. The judge’s decision shoots down only one of several efforts by Trump to wipe clean his record of the criminal felonies before he returns to the White House on Jan. 20.
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan listens as Emil Bove, a member of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s legal team, argues for his client during Sandoval’s hearing, amid his criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. April 19, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg/Pool
Separately, Trump has asked Judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the entire New York criminal case as a result of his November election victory. Merchan didn’t rule on that argument Monday.
In his ruling, Merchan sided with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office who said that while the U.S. Supreme Court granted presidents wide latitude in having immunity for presidential actions, the activities for which Trump was convicted were unofficial – not official – conduct.
Merchan wrote in his 41-page ruling that the actions Trump took for which he was convicted were “decidedly personal acts” including falsifying business records that posed “no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch,” including Trump’s actions as president.
Those “unofficial” actions included steps Trump took to falsify records related to payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who was threatening to go public with claims of having had affairs with Trump just before the 2016 election, Merchan concluded.
Also, Merchan ruled, “It is therefore logical and reasonable to conclude that if the act of falsifying records to cover up the payments so that the public would not be made aware is decidedly an unofficial act, so too should the communications to further that same cover-up be unofficial.”
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung issued a statement soon after Merchan’s ruling that didn’t specifically say he would appeal the ruling – but that he would continue to fight what he described as a political “witch hunt” that was in 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, 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.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office declined to comment.
Trump and his lawyers had asked Merchan to set aside his hush money trial conviction on the basis of the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity last summer.
The high court’s July 1 ruling from the Republican-appointed justices has already grabbed headlines for knocking out portions of Trump’s federal election interference indictment, helping shield him from another 2024 criminal trial, and potentially emboldening him in a future presidency.
But the ruling was seen as a potentially even bigger gift to Trump because one portion of it, which deals with trial evidence, raised questions about the criminal trial Trump already lost.
Trump was convicted in Manhattan on May 30 of 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to conceal a conspiracy to unlawfully interfere in the 2016 presidential election through a scheme involving hush money paid to Daniels.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s New York hush money conviction upheld despite immunity ruling
