The decision we were expecting has finally arrived. On late Monday afternoon, Judge Juan Merchan made a ruling on President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the judgment against him in the Manhattan fake business records lawsuit.
Merchan dismissed Trump’s appeal, focusing solely on the matter of presidential immunity. However, there are still unresolved matters such as the motion to drop the case based on Trump’s reelection and the forthcoming sentencing if the motion is rejected.
Back in July, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the issue of presidential immunity. Subsequently, Trump’s legal team sought to overturn the verdict, arguing that the evidence presented during the trial should have been deemed inadmissible in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision.
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.
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.
