Judge rules Trump does not have presidential immunity protections in hush money conviction

Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday that Donald Trump’s felony conviction in the New York hush money case should not be dismissed because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

Merchan’s decision rejected one of several approaches taken by Trump’s lawyers to dismiss Trump’s May guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records. However, the judge did not rule on a motion by Trump’s lawyers to dismiss the conviction because Trump is now the president-elect.

Instead, his 41-page decision focused on the question of presidential immunity.

Merchan wrote the Supreme Court’s decision that Trump should enjoy broad immunity for official acts during his term does not mean the conviction should be thrown out, ruling that evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorney’s office did not relate to Trump’s official conduct as president.

The evidence disputed by Trump’s lawyers relates to “entirely unofficial conduct” and should receive no immunity protection, the judge wrote.

“This Court concludes that if error was committed with respect to the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchan wrote. “Even if this Court finds that the disputed evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of Trump’s decision, which it does not, Defendant’s petition is nonetheless denied because the introduction of the disputed evidence constitutes harmless error and no error was committed in the manner of the proceedings.”

Trump transition spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that Merchan’s decision “is a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity and other longstanding jurisprudence.”