Immunity appeal set for November 16 after third federal rejection
The disposition came in early January 2025, when Trump was already president-elect for his second term. The judge in the case gave Trump an unconditional discharge, meaning he would remain a convicted felon but was given no jail time, fine or other penalty.
The felony conviction came after the jury agreed he altered records in order to obscure a $130,000 payment to buy the silence of adult film performer and producer Stormy Daniels.
Trump has always denied any wrongdoing and has turned to state and federal courts in hopes of unwinding the verdict. His legal team planned on Thursday to continue efforts to get his 2024 conviction in the hush money election corruption case thrown out, with attorneys trying to persuade a New York appeals court to toss the criminal trial verdict from May 2024, when Trump was found guilty on all charges of falsifying business records.
The trial involved the fee that Daniels received from Cohen, Trump’s then fixer and lawyer, weeks before the 2016 election. The money bought, for a time, her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier when he was already married to Melania Trump and she had given birth to his youngest son, Barron. Trump maintains that nothing sexual happened with Daniels.
In 2017, Trump’s company reimbursed Cohen, logging those payments as legal expenses.
Saying the transactions all were meant to keep unflattering information about Trump away from the electorate, prosecutors argue that he “orchestrated a conspiracy” that violated federal campaign finance laws, among others.
Trump’s lawyers argue there is only “weak” evidence that he even knew about Cohen’s dealings at the time. His trial attorneys also said that payments to Cohen were legal expenses and were merely to avoid embarrassing Trump’s family.
The appeal turns on complex legal disputes, with heavy political overtones. Trump mentioned the case again on social media as recently as September, and he was not expected to attend Thursday’s court session.
While pursuing his state appeal, Trump also has been trying to shift the case to federal court and have it dismissed on immunity grounds, based on the 2024 Supreme Court ruling granting sweeping presidential immunity. A federal judge declined to move that case for the third time in August. Trump’s attorneys are appealing that decision, with arguments scheduled for November 16.
The two tracks pursue different requests: the New York appeal seeks to toss the verdict itself, while the federal proceeding concerns Trump’s attempt to move the case and have it dismissed on immunity grounds.