Former President Donald Trump’s legal team filed a letter Monday seeking permission from acting Justice Juan Merchan to file a motion to overturn the jury’s guilty verdict in the New York criminal case, the New York Times reported.
The letter was sent shortly after the Supreme Court ruled on Trump’s presidential immunity motion. In a 6-3 vote, the justices determined that presidents have absolute immunity for official acts and no immunity for unofficial acts.
‘Evidence of those acts cannot be used.’
The Supreme Court did not define what constitutes an official act, which will be left up to the lower courts to determine.
In response to the ruling, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the New York criminal case. The alleged illegal acts occurred during Trump’s 2016 campaign before he became president. Merchan is expected to hand down sentencing in the case on July 11. Trump is facing up to four years in prison.
In previous court filings, Trump’s legal team argued that some of the evidence used in the New York trial — including Trump’s social media posts about his former attorney Michael Cohen — were from his time in office and, therefore, should have been excluded.
Merchan implemented a policy requiring the prosecution and the defense to provide a one-page letter summarizing their arguments before submitting court filings. According to Merchan, the policy ensured he would not become inundated with paperwork.
If Merchan allows Trump’s team to file the motion, sentencing would likely be delayed. However, it is unclear if Merchan will do so since the deadline to file post-trial motions has already passed.
The letter is expected to be made public on Tuesday. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office will be given an opportunity to respond to the request.
Will Scharf, Trump’s attorney, told CNN that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling “absolutely” impacts the New York case. He argued that the prosecution used a “substantial number of official acts of the presidency” as evidence in its case against Trump.
“The Supreme Court was very clear that for acts that fall within the outer perimeter of the president’s official responsibilities, acts that are presumptively immune from prosecution, that evidence of those acts cannot be used to try essentially private acts,” Scharf told the news outlet.
Scharf added, “At the very least, we deserve a new trial where those immune acts will not come into evidence, as the Supreme Court dictated today.”
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