Manhattan prosecutors who achieved the historic criminal conviction of Donald Trump have asserted that the verdict should remain intact, despite a recent
U.S. Supreme Court ruling stating that presidents cannot face criminal charges for official acts.
In a court filing dated July 24 and made public on Thursday, the prosecutors urged a judge to deny Trump's request to overturn the verdict based on the ruling. They clarified that the Supreme Court decision does not impact their case, which revolves around hush money payments to a porn star.
"The charges in this case all involve purely personal conduct, rather than official presidential acts," wrote the prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office.
On May 30, Trump, the Republican nominee for the upcoming November 5 election, was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. This conviction stems from attempts to cover up a $130,000 payment made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to porn star Stormy Daniels. The payment was meant to ensure her silence before the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump, which Trump denies.
Trump has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict, making him the first U.S. president, former or sitting, to be convicted of a crime. Legal experts believe it is unlikely that Justice Juan Merchan will grant Trump's request to overturn the verdict, given that most of the conduct in question predates Trump's presidency and pertains to personal matters.
Merchan has postponed Trump's sentencing from July 11 to September 18, to provide Trump's lawyers the opportunity to present their case. Trump's defense lawyers argued two weeks ago that the verdict should be overturned because prosecutors improperly relied on evidence of Trump's official acts during the trial, which they claim is incorrect given the Supreme Court's ruling.
The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling on July 1 emphasized that evidence of official acts cannot be used in prosecutions regarding private matters.
Trump's lawyers have also contested the introduction of evidence, such as Twitter posts from 2018 about Cohen, which prosecutors said indicated Trump's awareness of the hush money payment. Defense lawyers argued these posts were official communications. However, prosecutors stated that Trump made these posts in his "unofficial capacity."
Trump also objected to the testimony of two White House aides and the use of a financial disclosure form referencing his reimbursement to Cohen. Prosecutors argued that the aides testified about private matters and the disclosure form concerned Trump's private finances.
Prosecutors further asserted that even if some evidence related to official acts, the verdict should still stand due to the abundance of other evidence proving Trump's guilt.
"Harmless error cannot be a basis for setting aside a verdict," the prosecutors concluded.
Justice Merchan is expected to decide on Trump's arguments by September 6. If the conviction is upheld, the case will proceed to sentencing. Following sentencing, Trump could formally appeal both the verdict and the sentencing to a higher-level state court. Photo by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, Wikimedia commons.