Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked for the former president’s conviction in his hush-money criminal case to be overturned and his sentencing this month delayed, US media report.
A letter sent by Trump’s lawyers to the New York judge presiding over the trial reportedly cites Monday’s Supreme Court ruling that granted the former president immunity from prosecution for official actions he took while in office.
In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. He will be sentenced on 11 July.
His team points out that he signed off the records while president in 2017, but one lawyer suggested this was unlikely to be considered an official act.
The hush money wasn’t illegal. It was the source of the money that was illegal. He illegally paid her with campaign money.
Other way around. It was business funds paying her, but since the payment was for a political purpose it should have been campaign funds and so it was an illegal political contribution that was then covered up (the actual crime in the end).