The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money trial denied the president-elect’s bid to vacate his guilty verdict on presidential immunity grounds.
"Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment and verdict is denied," Judge Juan Merchan wrote in a ruling Monday.
Merchan handed down the decision after he also denied Trump's argument that he's already protected by presidential immunity because of his election win. "This court does not agree," he wrote.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung bashed the ruling, calling it “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity.”
"This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed," he said.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment his then-lawyer Michael Cohen paid porn star Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential election. Daniels claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, an allegation he has denied.
Trump's attorneys had argued the indictment and the verdict should be thrown out in light of a Supreme Court ruling issued weeks later that created a new standard for presidential immunity.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office, they contended, shouldn’t have been allowed to present evidence of Trump's “official acts” to jurors, including public statements relating to the case. Prosecutors countered that the evidence didn't affect the verdict, which they argued should be kept in place.
Merchan agreed, citing "the overwhelming evidence of guilt" the district attorney's office presented.
He said some of Trump's "claims relate entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections."
"[E]ven if this Court were to deem all of the contested evidence, both preserved and unpreserved, as official conduct falling within the outer perimeter of Defendant’s Presidential authority, it would still find that the People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch," he wrote.
Merchan last month postponed sentencing while he considers Trump's motions to dismiss the case. Trump has another, more sweeping motion that is still pending, and Merchan revealed in his order Monday that Trump also has a pending argument involving allegations of juror misconduct.
The order didn't mention the nature of the misconduct. Merchan instructed attorneys on both sides to file their letters about the issue publicly and with redactions.
He hasn't set a new sentencing date.
Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as president on Jan. 20.
