(NEW YORK) — Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling that President Donald Trump has some presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for actions taken to overturn results of the 2020 election, Trump on Monday sought to have his conviction thrown out in his New York criminal hush money case, according to sources.
Trump’s lawyers said the hush money verdict should be tossed because the jury saw evidence during trial that they believe should have been protected by presidential immunity, according to a letter to Judge Juan Merchan that was described by sources to ABC News.
The defense sought additional time to make their argument — a move that could delay Trump’s sentencing, which is currently scheduled for July 11.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office and a representative from Trump’s legal team declined to comment to ABC News.
A jury in May took less than ten hours to convict Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in an effort to boost his chances in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, wired Daniels $130,000 and Trump reimbursed him in monthly installments disguised as routine legal expenses, prosecutors said.
Trump’s defense team previously invoked a presidential immunity argument in an unsuccessful effort to limit evidence and delay the trial.
In March, defense lawyers sought to exclude a government ethics form that disclosed Trump’s reimbursement to Cohen, as well as a series of tweets from 2018 that prosecutors alleged were part of a “pressure campaign” against Cohen.
“Under these appropriate standards, President Trump’s social media posts and public statements — while acting as President and viewed in context — fell within the outer perimeter of his Presidential duty, to which communicating with the public on matters of public concern was central,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in the March motion that the judge rejected ahead of the trial.
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