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Trump Felony Convictions Imperiled

Void, mistrial, or delay?

By:  |  July 12, 2024  |    595 Words
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Donald Trump (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Manhattan prosecutors agreed on July 2 to delay the sentencing of Donald Trump for his conviction in New York on 34 felony counts relating to allegedly fraudulent characterizations of hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Pending consideration by trial judge Juan M. Merchan of briefs and oral arguments by both sides, the sentencing date – which was set for July 11 – is now scheduled for September 18. This dramatic pause in the otherwise relentless pursuit of Trump arose from a game-changing US Supreme Court decision the day before.

New York Convictions Imperiled

The Supreme Court’s surprising July 1 ruling in Trump v. United States threw a radioactive monkey wrench into the best-laid plans of New York Attorney General Alvin Bragg. The Supreme Court’s holding in Trump applied to a four-count indictment of the former president for alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election “by spreading knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the collecting, counting, and certifying of the election results.” However, by laying out new grounds for broad presidential immunity, the decision directly impacted Bragg’s New York case against the former president.

news and current events bannerTrump v. United States held that a former president is subject to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his core constitutional authority, presumptive immunity (rebuttable by sufficient state evidence) for all official acts, and no immunity for unofficial acts. Trump’s liberal critics claim his alleged crimes in the hush money case constituted unofficial acts prior to his election as POTUS: Both prosecution and defense are toiling away drafting briefs for Merchan addressing this pivotal distinction.

However, the implications of Trump for the highly controversial New York cases extend to evidence presented to the jury in Trump’s convictions concerning “official acts,” which have now been deemed inadmissible even in an otherwise proper criminal prosecution. Ironically, the New York cases are in dire jeopardy because Merchan and the prosecution aggressively permitted evidence of Trump’s official acts to be presented to the jury despite strident, timely objections by defense counsel.

What The New York Times called “likely to be the only moment of criminal accountability for the twice-impeached and four-time indicted former president” is now a moment likely never to pass. Even if the alleged mischaracterizations of hush money payments are not voided by Trump’s “official acts” immunity, the New York case will almost certainly be vacated as a mistrial because substantial evidence was brought forward that was squarely within the “official acts” category prohibited by the Trump decision.

Trump No Longer a Felon?

GettyImages-2160760719 Joe Biden

Joe Biden (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Biden is accused by his opponents of being implicated in illegally pressuring social media empires to censor Americans’ free speech, meddling in Ukraine, family corruption and influence-peddling, and mishandling of high-security public documents. Whether he is competent to stand trial following the Special Counsel Robert Hur investigation is now irrelevant: He is immune. Sotomayor and the liberal chatterers apparently do not perceive how much criminal cover the Trump decision affords POTUS Biden. Furthermore, the Trump decision will squarely protect Biden from alleged retaliatory prosecution by the 45th president if and when he reclaims the Oval Office in November.

Those who pursued Trump like rabid piranhas now hold an empty toolbox. Any conviction of the former president for mishandling of documents is unlikely after this ruling, as are any convictions for the various lawfare machinations conjured against him this election year (and boasted about by Biden during the recent debate).

It seems entirely possible that Donald Trump will not be a felon for long.

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