Trump hush money prosecutors say conviction should stand despite immunity ruling

[July 26, 2024]  By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Manhattan prosecutors who secured Donald Trump's historic criminal conviction said the verdict should stand despite the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that presidents cannot face criminal charges over official acts.

In a court filing dated July 24 and made public on Thursday, the prosecutors urged a judge to reject the former U.S. president's bid to set aside the verdict due to the ruling. They said the decision had no bearing on their case, which stemmed from hush money paid to a porn star.

"The charges in this case all involve purely personal conduct, rather than official presidential acts," prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office wrote.

Trump, the Republican nominee in the Nov. 5 election, was convicted on May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

Trump denies any encounter with Daniels and has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict. He is the first U.S. president past or present to be convicted of a crime.

Legal experts say Justice Juan Merchan is unlikely to grant Trump's request to toss the verdict, since much of the conduct at issue predated Trump's 2017-2021 presidency and relates to personal matters.

But Merchan delayed Trump's sentencing from July 11 to Sept. 18, less than two months before the election, to allow his lawyers the chance to make their case.

Two weeks ago, Trump's defense lawyers urged the judge to toss the verdict because prosecutors relied on evidence of his official acts during the trial, which they said was improper in light of the justices' ruling.

The justices' 6-3 ruling on July 1 also said that evidence of official acts cannot be used in a prosecution on private matters.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg leaves a podium during the Memorial Day Ceremony at Soldiers and Sailors Monument in New York, U.S., May 27, 2024. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

'HARMLESS ERROR'

Trump's lawyers took issue with introduction of evidence of Twitter posts Trump made in 2018 about Cohen, which prosecutors said showed Trump was aware that his former lawyer had paid off Daniels. Defense lawyers said those posts were official communications.

In their Thursday filing, prosecutors said Trump made the posts in his "unofficial capacity."

Trump had also objected to the testimony of two White House aides and the prosecutors' use of a financial disclosure form that referenced Trump's reimbursement to Cohen. Prosecutors on Thursday said the aides testified about private matters, and that the disclosure form dealt with Trump's private finances.

Prosecutors said even if Merchan decides that some of the evidence introduced at trial had to do with official acts, the verdict should stand because there was plenty of other evidence of Trump's guilt.

"Harmless error cannot be a basis for setting aside a verdict," prosecutors wrote.

Merchan has said he will decide on Trump's arguments by Sept. 6. If the conviction is upheld, the case will proceed to sentencing. Once he is sentenced, Trump could formally appeal the verdict and the sentencing to a higher-level state court.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis)

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