Trump’s hush-money conviction upheld in presidential immunity dispute – Alvin Bragg calls ‘overwhelming’ evidence of guilt

New York judge affirms guilty verdict in hush-money case involving president-elect Donald TrumpThough discussions about presidential immunity continue.

what happened: Judge Juan Merchant Thursday upheld the jury’s decision to label Trump a felon. The ruling comes after Trump recently defeated the vice president in the election Kamala Harris. According to the “Capitol Hill” report, considering Trump’s status as president-elect, the judge has not yet made a decision on Trump’s request to completely dismiss the case.

Trump’s legal team maintains that the evidence he presented during the seven-week trial is protected by the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity doctrine. The doctrine asserts that former presidents enjoy complete immunity from criminal prosecution for the exercise of core constitutional powers and constructive immunity for other official acts.

manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg refuted those claims, noting that any evidence presented to the jury was not protected. He further argued that even that was trivial compared with the “overwhelming evidence of the defendant’s guilt.”

Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to $130,000 hush-money payments to adult film actresses Stormi Daniels Before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors described this as an illegal attempt to influence the outcome of the election.

The judge’s decision on whether to halt the proceedings while Trump is in office remains to be determined. Meanwhile, other criminal prosecutions since Trump’s victory have been less successful.

See also: Trump’s favorability hits seven-year high: How Republicans, Democrats, men and women view the president-elect

why it’s important: The Supreme Court previously ruled that Trump and former presidents were entitled to immunity for conduct that fell within their constitutional powers while in office, but not for unofficial conduct.

According to previous reports, Trump tried to transfer the hush money criminal case to federal court, but was rejected due to lack of “just cause.” Sentencing in Trump’s hush money trial was postponed until after the 2024 presidential election to avoid any potential impact on the election.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and published by Sivdeep Dhaliwal