17-12-24, 06:40
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#77
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Judge Rules NO Immunity-Denies Dismissal of TRUMPs Criminal Hush Money Case
Judge Denies TRUMP Petition to Dismiss Criminal Hush-Money Case Over Immunity Claims
Juan Merchan rules decidedly personal acts of falsifying records pose no danger of intrusion on executive function
The Guardian 17 DEC 2024
A judge on Monday ruled that Donald Trumps conviction for falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal should stand, rejecting the president-elect?s argument that it should be dismissed because of the US supreme court?s recent ruling on presidential immunity, a court filing showed.
Manhattan Judge Juan Merchans decision eliminates one potential off-ramp from the case ahead of Trumps return to office next month. His lawyers have raised other arguments for dismissal, however.
In a 41-page decision Merchan said Trumps decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the executive branch
Trumps lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors have said there should be some accommodation for his upcoming presidency, but they insist the conviction should stand.
A jury convicted Trump in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment to the adult film actor Stormy Daniels in 2016. The payment was for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
In his ruling, Merchan denied the bulk of Trumps claims that some of prosecutors? evidence related to official acts and implicated immunity protections.
The judge said that even if he found that some evidence related to official conduct, he?d still find that prosecutors? decision to use 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
Even if prosecutors had erroneously introduced evidence that could be challenged under an immunity claim, Merchan continued, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt
It was the first time a US president ? former or sitting ? had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK43vsYDpHI
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AMERICA WAS ONCE AN INNOVATED & RESPECTED COUNTRY and THEN ALONG CAME TRUMP.....
That buzz you hear is George Washington spinning in his grave
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