NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Former President Donald Trump鈥檚 lawyers have asked the New York judge who presided over his to set aside his conviction and delay his sentencing, scheduled for next week.
The letter to Judge Juan M. Merchan cited the earlier Monday on presidential immunity and asked the judge to delay Trump鈥檚 sentencing while he weighs the high court鈥檚 decision and how it could influence the New York case, according to the letter obtained by The Associated Press.
The lawyers argue that the Supreme Court鈥檚 decision confirmed a position the defense raised earlier in the case that prosecutors should have been precluded from introducing some evidence they said constituted official presidential acts, according to the letter.
In prior court filings, Trump contended he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office. His lawyers did not raise that as a defense in the hush money case, but they argued that some evidence 鈥� including Trump鈥檚 social media posts about former lawyer Michael Cohen 鈥� comes from his time as president and should have been excluded from the trial because of immunity protections.
The Manhattan district attorney鈥檚 office declined to comment Monday night.
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for the first time that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, extending the delay in the Washington criminal case against the Republican ex-president on charges he .
Trump was convicted in New York of 34 counts of falsifying business records, arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a hush money payment to a porn actor just before the 2016 presidential election. He is scheduled to be sentenced in the hush money case on July 11.
Merchan instituted a policy in the run-up to the trial requiring both sides to send him a one-page letter summarizing their arguments before making longer court filings. He said he did that to better manage the docket, so he was not inundated with voluminous paperwork.
In denying Trump鈥檚 bid to move the trial from New York state court to federal court last year, that the allegations at the center of the case pertained to Trump鈥檚 personal life and do not 鈥渞eflect in any way the color of the President鈥檚 official duties.鈥�
鈥淭he evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the President 鈥� a cover-up of an embarrassing event,鈥� U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote in the ruling.
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Sisak contributed from Fort Pierce, Florida.
Michael R. Sisak And Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press
