Trump Lawyers Make Case for Tossing Conviction

Prosecutors should have waited for Supreme Court ruling, defense argues
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 11, 2024 6:16 PM CDT
Trump Lawyers Ask Judge to Toss Conviction
Judge Juan Merchan poses for a photo in his chambers in New York in March.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Donald Trump's lawyers have made their arguments for overturning the conviction in his hush-money trial, a motion released Thursday shows. The filing contends the US Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity this month means some of the evidence should not have been allowed in the trial, the Washington Post reports. Todd Blanche and Emil Bove told New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan that prosecutors hurried to try Trump. "Rather than wait for the Supreme Court's guidance, the prosecutors scoffed with hubris at President Trump's immunity motions and insisted on rushing to trial," they wrote, per the AP.

"Your Honor now has the authority to address these injustices, and the court is duty-bound to do so in light of the Supreme Court's decision," they added. Trump was convicted in May of falsifying records to cover up a potential sex scandal. He is the first former president convicted of a crime. Merchan has said he'll rule on the defense requests on Sept. 6 and sentence Trump on Sept. 18, "if such is still necessary"; sentencing had been scheduled for Thursday.

Prosecutors have until July 24 to respond to the defense's arguments. The evidence the filing says shouldn't have been allowed includes some Trump conversations with then-White House Communications Director Hope Hicks, testimony from another aide about how Trump received personal mail in the Oval Office, and some tweets he sent while president. Some of the checks and invoices at issue in the case were also from his time as president. Trump's trial began April 15. The Supreme Court heard arguments on the immunity issue on April 25. (More Trump hush-money trial stories.)

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