Washington, Dec 16 (EFE).- A New York judge on Monday rejected US president-elect Donald Trump’s bid to have his New York hush money conviction dismissed on the basis of presidential immunity.
Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan rejected that Trump can avail himself of the judicial immunity that the Supreme Court granted to the presidents and former presidents of the country.
The judge said that the recent Supreme Court ruling only grants immunity to former presidents for “official acts” carried out when they were in office, so it cannot be applied in the case for which he was tried in New York.
However, Merchan did not rule on another motion presented by Trump’s defense that demanded the dismissal of his conviction due to the fact that he was elected president on Nov. 5.
Following the Republican’s election victory, Merchan indefinitely postponed the sentence, which has been pending since a jury convicted him in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to boost his chances of electoral success in 2016.
Daniels claimed she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.
This is the only criminal case for which Trump has been convicted. Thanks to his electoral victory, the Republican has been spared two federal cases against him, that of the assault on the Capitol and that of the classified documents he took from the White House, since special counsel Jack Smith decided to close the accusations. EFE
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