Donald J. Trump remains a CONVICTED FELON from a NY state court…..
The Supreme’s ONLY ruled on Federal criminal charges against a sitting president….
Trump is sure to appeal this….
But for now?
The conviction STICKS….
The is no ruling on the sentence…
A judge on Monday rejected Donald J. Trump’s argument that a recent Supreme Court ruling had nullified his criminal case in New York, upholding the former and future president’s felony conviction for falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal.
The judge’s ruling preserves, at least for now, the stain of Mr. Trump’s criminal conviction. And if the decision withstands an appeal, Mr. Trump could become the first felon to serve as president.
The ruling, which addressed the Supreme Court’s decision to grant presidents broad immunity for their official actions, thwarted only the first of several legal maneuvers Mr. Trump has concocted to clear his record of 34 felonies before returning to the White House.
Prosecutors had argued that the Supreme Court’s decision had “no bearing on this prosecution,” noting that Mr. Trump was convicted of orchestrating a scheme involving a personal and political crisis that predated his presidency.
…
In the first significant interpretation of that polarizing opinion, the New York judge who oversaw the trial sided with prosecutors, concluding that the testimony centered on Mr. Trump’s unofficial conduct.
“The People’s use of these acts as evidence of the decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the executive branch,” the judge, Juan M. Merchan, wrote in a 41-page decision.
And even if the evidence was “admitted in error, such error was harmless,” he added, noting the “overwhelming evidence of guilt” introduced at trial.
A spokesman for Mr. Trump, Steven Cheung, criticized the ruling, calling it “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity.”
…
Justice Merchan will not have the final say on the immunity issue, and Mr. Trump can now appeal his ruling.
Even if Mr. Trump loses in New York’s appellate courts, he can ultimately take the matter to a friendlier venue: the Supreme Court, which has adopted an expansive view of presidential power and where the 6-to-3 conservative majority includes three justices he appointed during his first term…
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Justice Merchan, who could rule as soon as this week on Mr. Trump’s election-related dismissal bid, has already paused the sentencing several times. Mr. Trump faces up to four years in prison, but he is unlikely to receive more than a few weeks or months behind bars in New York, according to legal experts….
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The judge noted that he was not alone in concluding that Mr. Trump’s actions had been private, not official.
A federal judge who evaluated the case last year when Mr. Trump tried to move it out of state court concluded that the “evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely personal item of the president.”
The federal judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, noted in his opinion that “hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts.”…
image…Bloomberg
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