Trump's Lawyers Seek New Defense Amid Presidential Immunity Ruling

Donald Trump's legal team plans to request the overturning of his May conviction for payments to Stormy Daniels following a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. The motion argues that the decision nullifies the guilty verdict. Sentencing is scheduled for July, with Trump maintaining his innocence.

Donald Trump's lawyers plan to ask that his May conviction on criminal charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star be set aside due to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling this week on presidential immunity, according to the New York Times.

The Times, citing a person with knowledge of the matter, on Monday said the letter seeking permission to file the motion would not be made public until later on Tuesday at the earliest and comes ahead of sentencing

scheduled for July 11. The justices wrote in a landmark ruling on Monday that Trump could not be prosecuted for any actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, but could for private acts.

That decision all but ensured the Republican presidential candidate would not go to trial before the Nov. 5 election on federal criminal charges involving his efforts to undo his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges. In the planned court filing in the New York case, Trump's lawyers said that ruling meant the jury verdict finding him guilty of covering up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels should not stand, the Times reported, and asks to postpone next week's sentencing.

The payment to Daniels was made shortly before the 2016 presidential election. However, Trump's lawyers are likely to point to some evidence used in the case that dated from Trump's time in the White House, the Times said. Trump pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal his May 30 conviction — the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president, past or present — following sentencing in New York state court in Manhattan.

Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office argued Trump directed the payment to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter to avoid damage to his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump, who denies having sex with Daniels, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton that year.

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