As the country both awaits and dreads the arrival of the November election, former president Donald Trump continues to fight a felony conviction.
The controversial Republican was found guilty in June of all 34 counts against him in the notorious hush money case. The trial involved allegations that the former president falsified business records in order to secretly pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a romantic fling between the two.
As determined in the trial, Trump was guilty of doing this ahead of the 2016 election, presumably with the intent to preserve his image ahead of Election Day. He was set to be sentenced next month, a punishment determined by the judge, but which could include prison time or probation.
Late on Thursday August 28, however, Trump requested a Manhattan federal court to remove the case from the state level, thereby overruling the conviction as well as postponing his sentencing indefinitely. His legal team argued in the filing that trying him in the hush money case in the state violated both constitutional rights and the precedent found in the July Supreme Court decision related to presidential immunity.
That ruling—which came about amid the ongoing January 6, 2021, riot prosecution—declared that former presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts they made while in the Oval Office. In the January 6 election interference case, Trump was said to have some amount of immunity from charges—although the specific details about what he can be charged with were not immediately clear.
Now, the former president’s legal team have tried again to get the case moved to federal court, this time with the argument that it would provide the defendant an “unbiased forum” that is “free from local hostilities.” While in state court, his team said, he has been faced with “bias” and “conflicts of interest.”
Should the case successfully be heard in federal court, they plan to request the verdict be overturned and the entire case dismissed, based on the precedent that Trump may enjoy presidential immunity from the charges. However, the attorneys added that the case remaining in state court could qualify as election interference.
They say that, depending on the sentence dealt out on September 18, Trump could wind up in jail ahead of Election Day. But the effort appears to be an uphill climb, as the request was made to the same judge who denied a previous attempt to move the case, landing it to be tried in state court.
Trump is historically the first former president to be convicted of a crime. Should the case remain in state court, the planned legal challenges could still delay his sentencing ahead of the culmination of his bid for re-election. In separate filings, Judge Juan Merchan—the trial judge—is left to decide whether to grant the former president’s appeal to delay his sentencing until after Election Day as well as reverse the guilty verdict and dismiss the case.
