We knew the ruling would be coming at some point. Finally, late Monday afternoon, Judge Juan Merchan issued his decision regarding President-elect Donald Trump’s bid to have the verdict against him set aside in the Manhattan falsified business records case.
Merchan denied Trump’s request — but this ruling only pertains to the issue of presidential immunity. There remains pending the motion to dismiss the case due to Trump’s reelection, as well as the ultimate issue of sentencing (if that motion is denied).
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the presidential immunity issue in July. Following that, Trump’s legal team moved to have the verdict set aside, asserting that evidence presented in the case should have been inadmissible based on the high court’s ruling.
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After several delays regarding the anticipated ruling, Merchan has now denied Trump’s motion.
Merchan wrote that the evidence contested by Trump’s lawyers related “entirely to unofficial conduct” and should receive no immunity protections.
“This Court concludes that if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchan wrote. “Even if this Court did find that the disputed evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of the Trump decision, which it does not, Defendant’s motion is still denied as introduction of the disputed evidence constitutes harmless error and no mode of proceedings error has taken place.”
In his decision, Merchan walked through several pieces of testimony that Trump’s lawyers claimed should not have been heard at trial because of the immunity decision, including from Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout and Michael Cohen.
Merchan wrote that it was “logical and reasonable to conclude that if the act of falsifying records to cover up the payments so that the public would not be made aware is decidedly an unofficial act, so too should the communications to further that same cover-up be unofficial.”
Trump will now have the ability to appeal this ruling, and one expects that appeal will be filed fairly quickly.
At this time, there is no indication as to when Merchan may rule on the remaining matters. We will continue to monitor the case and provide updates as they become available.
