Trump not eligible for immunity in New York hush money case, judge rules

Skip to comments.

Posted on 12/16/2024 11:56:15 PM PST by where's_the_Outrage?

The New York judge in President-elect Donald Trump's criminal hush money case ruled Monday that the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision does not apply to that case.

Trump had sought to dismiss his criminal indictment and vacate the jury verdict on the grounds that prosecutors, during the trial last May, introduced evidence relating to Trump's official acts as president, after the Supreme Court later ruled in July that Trump is entitled to presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office......

In his ruling Monday, Merchan found that there was "overwhelming evidence of guilt" that led the jury to convict Trump at trial.

Trump's attorneys, arguing for immunity, had emphasized the importance of former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks' testimony, including her recounting of interactions with Trump in 2018 when reporting about the alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels broke, to demonstrate Trump's knowledge of the payment and his preference that the story came out after the election......

But Merchan on Monday rejected Trump's argument that the testimony of Hicks, Trump's Twitter posts about Cohen, and other evidence, constitute official acts.

"Just as the title of Communications Director does not bestow absolute immunity to any and all communications with Ms. Hicks, neither does mere reference to the Justice Department convert a Tweet to an official act," Merchan wrote in his ruling.

"It is therefore logical and reasonable to conclude that if the act of falsifying records to cover up the payments so that the public would not be made aware is decidedly an unofficial act, so too should the communications to further that same cover-up be unofficial," the judge wrote.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...

Hey! FReepers!
Help Fill The Tank!
How About It? Huh?
It Ain't Askin' Too Much
Ya Know....

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.

I seems to me that if any evidence allowed in the trial could be construed as official acts, which is pretty much anything coming out of the White House, then it is likely cause for a mistrial.

To: where's_the_Outrage?

2 posted on 12/17/2024 12:08:11 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson