Donald Trump Asks Judge to Toss Hush Money Conviction Over Immunity Ruling

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump asked a New York judge to toss out his hush money conviction because of the US Supreme Court ruling that presidents have at least some immunity from criminal charges, setting up a fresh fight with Manhattan prosecutors as his campaign to take back the White House heats up.

Trump’s guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying business records was tainted by testimony and other evidence that shouldn’t have been allowed at trial under the new standard set by the high court’s landmark decision stemming from Trump’s election fraud case, according to a court filing made public Friday.

Trump’s legal team also asked Justice Juan Merchan in Manhattan to dismiss the indictment. If the request is granted, the former president couldn’t be retried on those charges.

The Supreme Court last week held that former presidents have at least some immunity from criminal charges related to official conduct, leaving them open to charges over private acts while in office. The majority held that presidents cannot be charged over official acts related to their core constitutional powers and that they have at least the presumption of immunity for acts within the “outer perimeter” of their presidential powers.