Former President Trump formally asked Judge Marchan to overturn the conviction in New York v. Trump on Thursday night after the Supreme Court ruled that the president has immunity from criminal liability for acts performed in official capacity.
Trump was convicted last month of all charges of first-degree falsifying business records in an unprecedented criminal trial after a six-week trial that stemmed from Bragg’s investigation.
The formal motion was filed Thursday night.
New York v. Trump: Marchan postpones sentencing hearing until September
“The Court should dismiss the indictment and vacate the jury verdict for violations of Presidential Immunity and the Supreme Court’s Supremacy Clause,” Trump lawyer Todd Branche wrote in the motion.
Former President Trump held a rally in the historically Democratic South Bronx neighborhood of New York City on May 23, 2024. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
Trump moved to overturn the convictions in the Manhattan cases after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that former presidents have effective immunity for acts committed while in office.
In his formal motion Thursday night, Blanche pointed to the Supreme Court’s immunity decision and argued that certain evidence relating to his “official duties” should not have been admitted during the trial.
Specifically, Blanche argues that testimony from former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, former Special Assistant to the President Madeleine Westerhout, testimony regarding the Office of Special Counsel and congressional investigations and pardon power, testimony regarding President Trump’s response to the FEC investigation, his presidential Twitter posts, and other relevant testimony was improperly admitted during the trial.
Trump’s lawyers also pointed to information he disclosed to the Office of Government Ethics while he was president.
Branche argues in the motion that the “official acts evidence” presented to the grand jury by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “violates the Trump ruling that a president ‘may not be indicted on the basis of immune conduct.'” The motion states that “the principle of presidential immunity recognized in the Trump ruling applies to all ‘criminal proceedings,’ including grand jury proceedings in which a prosecutor ‘seeks to indict’ a former president using official acts evidence.”
Branche argued that Bragg “violated presidential immunity by using similar evidence of official conduct in the grand jury proceedings that gave rise to the politically motivated charges in this case.”
Image of Judge Juan Merchan forced onto Donald Trump (Associated Press)
“An indictment so tainted does not stand and the charges must be dismissed,” Blanch argued.
Branche also explained that the Supreme Court’s decision did not allow for a “preponderance of the evidence” or “harmless error” exception because “significant institutional interests are at stake.”
“Indeed, Mr. Trump is considering a pretrial interlocutory appeal of the adverse presidential immunity rulings precisely because even the prospect of such a trial is constitutionally untenable,” Blanch wrote. “Necessarily, the outcome of any trial conducted in violation of these rulings would be invalid.”
Trump was scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, just days before the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to be formally nominated as the GOP’s 2024 presidential candidate.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks at a press conference in New York, USA, on May 30, 2024, following the conviction in the criminal trial of former US President Donald Trump, who was charged with falsifying business records to hide money paid in 2016 to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels. (Reuters)
But Judge Marchan last week granted Trump’s request to delay the sentencing, postponing the hearing to September 18 “if still necessary.”
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The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on presidential immunity arose from questions raised by charges brought against Trump in a separate federal lawsuit brought by special counsel Jack Smith related to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol and alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case.
