The judge Juan Merchan denied this Monday the judicial immunity to the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trumpfor the New York case in which he was convicted of falsify business records to buy the silence of the porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Merchan denied in a writing that Trump could benefit from the judicial immunity that the Supreme Court granted to the presidents and former presidents of the country in a ruling last summer.
The judge explained that the Supreme Court ruling only grants immunity to former presidents for “official acts” carried out when they were in office, so it cannot be applied in the case for which he was tried in New York.
“Evidence related to preserved claims relates entirely to unofficial conduct and therefore does not receive immunity protection“Merchan stated in his ruling.
“If there was an error in the introduction of the challenged evidence, said error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” he added according to the American newspaper The Hill.
However, Merchan did not comment on another motion presented by Trump’s defense that asks to dismiss his conviction for the fact that he was elected president in the last elections. November 5.
After the Republican’s electoral victory, Merchan indefinitely postponed the sentence, which has been pending since a jury convicted him in May of falsifying business records to silence, during the 2016 election campaignan alleged past affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels.
This is the only criminal case for which Trump has been convicted. Thanks to his electoral victory, the Republican has gotten rid of two federal cases against him, that of assault on the Capitol and that of the classified documents he took from the White Housesince special prosecutor Jack Smith decided to close the accusations.
Monday’s ruling raises the possibility that Trump will become the first president to reach the White House with a current conviction, pending an appeal of the jury’s verdict.
Steven CheungTrump’s spokesperson, criticized the decision and called it “ana direct violation of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling”, while demanding the immediate annulment of the case. For its part, the Manhattan district attorney’s office, Alvin L. Braggrefrained from commenting.
Despite this setback, Trump has the option of appealing the ruling to higher courts in New York and, ultimately, to the Supreme Court. With a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices he appointed, the court could offer more favorable ground for his arguments.
The presidential immunity It is not the only way that Trump has tried to invalidate his conviction. His lawyers have also cited a law of 1963 that prioritizes an unobstructed presidential transition, in addition to a policy of Department of Justice which prohibits criminal prosecution of a sitting president.
However, prosecutors have proposed an alternative: freezing the case for the four years of a potential Trump presidency, postponing his sentencing indefinitely. They also rejected any attempt to overturn the jury’s verdict, calling it an “extreme remedy” that would eliminate Trump’s criminal liability.
“Temporarily suspending the case is a more appropriate solution than vacating the verdict and removing liability for crimes that a jury found proven beyond a reasonable doubt.prosecutors argued in recent documents.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
