In a blistering 69-page brief filed Thursday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg demanded Judge Juan Merchan throw out Donald Trump’s appeal of his infamous hush money conviction, arguing that Trump’s behavior is not protected by the Supreme Court granting him immunity for his official duties.
Bragg was responsible for bringing the hush money case to a courtroom and procuring 34 felony convictions. According to Bloomberg, Bragg advised that the court “reject defendant’s request to vacate his conviction and dismiss the indictment on the basis of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.”
Trump’s appeal of his felony convictions relied on the Supreme Court’s shocking decision in his federal election interference case, which granted him presidential immunity for “official acts” while he was in office. Trump’s lawyers believe the convictions should be thrown out since Bragg, at trial, admitted evidence from a White House meeting while Trump was president.
Bragg stated that Trump’s “arguments are meritless in any event, since the evidence at issue either concerned unofficial conduct that is not subject to any immunity, or is a matter of public record...Even if some of this evidence were improperly admitted, any error was harmless in light of other overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt.”
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche submitted a letter to Judge Juan Merchan asking for permission to respond to the DA’s “legal and factual misrepresentations.” Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in the case on July 11. However, the judge delayed the sentencing until at least Sept. 18 so he could further evaluate Trump’s arguments.
Prosecutors stated that Trump falsified business records connected to a hush money payment his former attorney Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the end of 2016 presidential election.
In May, Trump was convicted on all counts against him, making him the first former president in history to be convicted of criminal charges. Merchan is expected make a ruling on the issue as early as Sept. 6.