Trump appeals hush-money conviction, citing presidential immunity
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
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Former U.S. President Donald J. Trump has formally appealed his May 2024 criminal conviction in the New York hush-money case, arguing that his actions were shielded by presidential immunity and that the prosecution represented a politically motivated abuse of the justice system.
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign. Prosecutors alleged that the payments were falsely recorded as legal expenses to conceal their electoral purpose — an act they characterized as election interference.
In December 2024, citing Trump’s imminent return to the White House, a New York judge granted him an unconditional discharge, sparing him any prison time or fine.
In a sharply worded appeal filed this week, Trump’s legal team called the conviction “a politically charged prosecution that should never have seen the inside of a courtroom.”
The appeal argues that under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling granting presidents broad immunity for official acts, evidence introduced during the trial—stemming from Trump’s time in office—should have been excluded.
Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the hush-money trial, previously rejected this argument, but Trump’s team was widely expected to challenge the ruling at the appellate level.
The case now heads to the New York Appellate Division, First Department, where Trump’s attorneys are seeking to have the conviction overturned and the indictment dismissed.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, led by Alvin Bragg, which prosecuted the case, has not yet commented on the appeal.
This development follows an earlier victory for Trump in August, when the same appellate court threw out a $500 million civil fraud penalty imposed by a lower court in a separate case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, though it upheld the underlying fraud finding.
The appeal marks yet another chapter in Trump’s ongoing legal saga as he navigates multiple court battles while preparing for his historic return to the White House.
