(DailyVantage.com) – The legal team of former president Donald Trump is acting fast after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on provisional immunity for presidents, kicking off a process that attempts to overturn the former president’s conviction in his “hush money” case.
SCOTUS recently ruled that Trump – along with other U.S. presidents – enjoy a certain degree of provisional immunity from prosecution on certain acts they commit while in office. In a letter to the presiding judge for the hush money case, lawyers for the former chief executive cite the ruling as they sought permission to file a motion to render the verdict as vacant. Under the law, however, the prosecution will also have an opportunity to respond and rebut arguments made by the defense.
Trump was convicted last month on 34 felony counts related to his cover-up of his alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels, whom prosecutors claim he paid $130,000 to keep quiet. Trump supposedly illegally procured the funds from his 2016 campaign war chest. Trump’s defense’s new tactic comes just a few days before presiding magistrate Judge Juan Merchan hands down a sentence against the former commander-in-chief.
While Trump has repeatedly insisted that he is immune from prosecution for acts he committed while he was president, his lawyers in the hush money case only used that argument in the sense that they claim that it would cover a number of statements the former president made against former attorney Michael Cohen.
Observers, however, are skeptical that the ruling will be overturned on the basis of the SCOTUS decision on conditional presidential immunity. While Merchan has allowed the defense to file their motion and has since delayed sentencing on the case, several legal experts agree that the matter the hush money case is dealing with pertains to actions Trump committed before he was elected president. As such, they believe that Merchan is unlikely to vacate the verdict.
Copyright 2024, DailyVantage.com
