US President Donald Trump has filed an appeal to overturn his decision. Criminal conviction in May 2024 in a hush money case, claiming he was protected by presidential immunity.
A New York jury unanimously found Trump guilty of 34 felonies related to falsifying business records.
In December, citing Trump's imminent return to the White House, a New York judge sentenced Trump to unconditional release, meaning he will not serve a sentence or pay a fine.
“This case should never have been tried in a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction,” Trump's lawyers said in the latest filing.
They called the case “the most politically charged prosecution in our nation's history.”
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Trump, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors alleged that days before the 2016 election, Trump directed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to pay $130,000 in hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about allegations of sexual contact with Trump.
The hush money payments were not illegal, but prosecutors said that when Trump reimbursed Cohen, the payments were fraudulently recorded as legal expenses to disguise their true nature.
The spring 2024 trial took place simultaneously with Trump's re-election campaign.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that hiding the payments constituted a form of election interference because they hid Daniels' statements from voters. Trump has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing.
In May, a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. making him the first former or sitting US president to be convicted of a felony.
About a month after his conviction, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that U.S. presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for “official acts” committed during their presidency.
Trump's lawyers in the Manhattan case argued at the time that the Supreme Court's finding of immunity should apply to Trump's hush-money case and that some evidence from the trial should have been excluded because it was obtained during Trump's first presidency.
Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump's hush money case, rejected that argument. However, Trump's team had long been expected to appeal.
In his filing, Trump's lawyer wrote that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “brought these charges in the midst of a disputed presidential election in which President Trump was the leading Republican candidate.
“These allegations against President Trump were as unprecedented as their political context,” the lawyers wrote.
They argued that Trump's actions did not violate New York state law and are seeking to have the case dismissed.
The case will be remanded to the New York Appellate Division, First Department.
In August the same court fined Trump $500 million for civil fraud This was the result of a separate civil case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
A panel of appeals judges upheld a lower court's ruling that Trump was responsible for fraud, but found the judge's hefty financial penalties were not justified.
