Donald Trump makes a final speech at the Supreme Court in an attempt to stop Judge Juan Merchan from convicting him in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
Trump’s team is demanding that the Supreme Court prevent Merchan from imposing a penalty on the newly elected president after he was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying company records.
They had successfully postponed the sentencing until after the November election, but it was moved to Friday.
Merchan indicated he might not impose jail time or even a fine — though that didn’t stop Trump from going after the judge during a wide-ranging news conference.
“We have a judge in New York, a very corrupt judge, I have a gag order. I can’t even talk about aspects of the case that are the most vital aspects,” Trump, 78, complained at Mar-a-Lago during an event.
His team, led by attorney Todd Blanche, who was tapped for a top job at the Justice Department, says Trump should be spared a conviction based on the court’s monumental presidential immunity decision last summer.
The Supreme Court should immediately halt the proceedings “to prevent serious injustice and damage to the institution of the presidency and the activities of the federal government,” his team argues.
Blanche predicted that the appeal will ultimately result in a dismissal of the case.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are asking the Supreme Court for an emergency stay, preventing him from being sentenced in New York on Friday
A New York jury convicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying company records in a trial that included testimony from former Trump “fixer” Michael Cohen and porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had a sexual affair with Trump. Trump denies the affair.
His plea comes a day after an appeals court rejected Trump’s request for a stay of Friday’s sentencing.
Trump also asked Merchan to delay sentencing pending his appeal.
Merchan said he would move forward regardless, saying the arguments made by his legal teams were mostly “a repetition of the arguments he has made numerous times in the past.” He has said he is unlikely to send Trump to prison and may give him a conditional discharge.
But even that outcome would leave Trump with the permanent stain of being the first president to be a convicted felon when he is sworn in on January 20.
Merchan noted last month that the The evidence presented at the trial earlier this year was “entirely related to unofficial conduct” and therefore did not amount to official actions as president.
Trump was convicted of 34 crimes related to hush-hush payments to porn star Stormy Daniels
Judge Juan Merchan on Monday rejected the new president’s request to postpone the case
Trump has taken his hush money case to the Supreme Court, which has already handed him a major victory in his decision on presidential immunity
Trump has yet to be sentenced following his conviction by a Manhattan jury in May
“This Court concludes that if there was an error with respect to the introduction of the disputed evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchan wrote.
The Supreme Court awarded Trump a major victory this summer when it ruled 6-3 that presidents enjoy a form of immunity from prosecution for official actions while in office.
Trump’s team argued that the evidence included “official acts performed while he was in office as President of the United States.” That includes his Oval Office meeting with Cohen and Trump signing some of the checks that constituted the $130,000 payment to Daniels.
According to Blanche, it also included official statements on his presidential Twitter account and statements to the press during his time in office.