Judge Merchan ruled Monday that President Trump’s conviction in the hush money case should not be dismissed based on the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity decision. Merchan determined that the evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorney’s office was unrelated to Trump’s official actions as president.
While Trump’s attorneys also argued for dismissal on the grounds that Trump has been re-elected as president, Merchan did not address that motion in his ruling. Instead, his 41-page decision focused solely on the issue of presidential immunity.
Merchan concluded that the evidence in question pertained “entirely to unofficial conduct” and was not protected by immunity. He further stated that even if the contested evidence were deemed official acts under the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, any potential error in admitting it was harmless due to the “overwhelming evidence of Trump’s guilt.”
“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. He added that no procedural error had occurred that would warrant dismissing the conviction.
Merchan reviewed testimony from key witnesses, including Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout, and Michael Cohen, which Trump’s lawyers argued should have been excluded due to the immunity ruling. He reasoned that if falsifying records to conceal payments from the public was an unofficial act, then communications made to further the “cover-up” were also unofficial and not subject to immunity.
