Trump Gets His Day in Court To Fight Convictions for Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels

New York State Supreme Court has set November 5 for oral arguments in President Trump’s appeal of his 34 convictions over hush money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, bringing to the fore the president’s best shot at shedding his status as a convicted felon.Mr. Trump’s appeal will be heard by the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, First Department. The date for the president to make his case for overturning the verdict is being reported first by The New York Sun. Both Mr. Trump and the prosecution team led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg have been allotted 15 minutes to present their arguments.In 2024, a Manhattan jury returned 34 guilty verdicts against Mr. Trump, granting Mr. Bragg’s request on every count. Each count involved the falsification of a different business record, all relating to payments totaling some $130,000 made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels through the president’s erstwhile attorney, Michael Cohen. The payments were intended to secure her silence regarding an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump at Lake Tahoe in 2006. The president denies that it ever happened.While New York law stipulates that falsification of business records is a misdemeanor, the statute also allows the crime to be elevated to a felony if it was committed in furtherance of a second crime. Mr. Bragg argued — successfully before both Judge Juan Merchan and the jury — that the payments to Ms. Daniels also amounted to an attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Judge Merchan ruled that the jury need not be unanimous on the means by which that interference occurred to convict.Judge Merchan sentenced Mr. Trump on January 10, 2025 — just five days before the 47th president took the oath of office for the second time. Mr. Trump filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to block the sentencing until 2029. The request was denied after Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the court’s liberals in rejecting the petition. In the event, Judge Merchan sentenced Mr. Trump only to an “unconditional discharge,” meaning no further punishment.Mr. Trump immediately launched a two-front appellate strategy. He filed a conventional appeal in state court — the one that will be heard next month by the New York State Supreme Court. He also argued that Mr. Bragg’s case should never have been heard in state court at all, but instead belonged in federal court, specifically the Southern District of New York. That argument has been rejected by Judge Merchan as well as by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92.The legal term for transferring a case from state to federal court is “removal,” and it can be invoked when a federal official acts “under color” of their office. Originally intended to protect federal officers from prejudicial state courts in the aftermath of the Civil War, removal requires not only that a defendant be a federal officer but also that he assert a “federal defense.” Mr. Trump contended that removal was justified because he invoked presidential immunity from prosecution under the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Trump v. United States.Mr. Trump’s state-court appeal contends that his convictions were “fatally marred” by a host of substantive and procedural errors. He argues that Mr. Bragg trespassed on the turf of federal election law, an argument also advanced in an amicus brief by prominent legal scholar Jed Shugerman, first reported by the Sun. Mr. Trump also argues on appeal that Judge Merchan admitted improper evidence, including testimony from an aide, Hope Hicks, that should have been barred.Mr. Trump has prevailed before the First Department. In August of last year, that tribunal threw out the $500 million fraud judgment imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron following a finding of “persistent fraud” by Mr. Trump, his business, and two of his sons in a case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The court found that the size of the judgment violated the Constitution’s prohibition on “excessive fines.”

Trump Gets His Day in Court To Fight Convictions for Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels

Trump Gets His Day in Court To Fight Convictions for Hush Money Payments to Stormy Daniels

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