Trump’s Felony Conviction Stands, Judge Rules

A judge has denied Donald Trump‘s request to toss his hush money conviction on grounds of presidential immunity.

According to CNN, Judge Juan Merchan ruled on Monday that despite the Supreme Court granting Trump immunity from prosecution for “official” acts committed while president, the prosecution’s evidence in his Manhattan case related “entirely to unofficial conduct.”

The judge has not yet ruled on a motion from Trump’s lawyers to dismiss the conviction entirely now that his is president-elect.

Merchan wrote that it was “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.”
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In a statement, Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson and incoming White House communications director, claimed the judge’s decision was “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence.”

In May, Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from a payment to keep adult film actress Stormy Daniels quiet about an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election. After Trump’s attorneys were able to secure a series of successful delays — and Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris to win a second term in the White House — his team was able to indefinitely postpone the sentencing phase of his conviction.