Former President Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in a New York City felony case accusing him of the falsification of business records in connection to pre-2016 election hush money was thrown into uncertainty with the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling establishing so-called presidential immunity.
Following an appeal from Trump amid another of his criminal cases, a conservative majority on the nation’s highest court said that presidents do hold a level of immunity, meaning protection from prosecution, for some actions taken in office. Trump’s team promptly turned around to try using those widely panned judicial findings to upend the New York case, which is the only one of Trump’s criminal cases to reach actual trial so far. Sentencing was originally scheduled for July, but it was postponed to September amid that uncertainty.
“PREDICTION. Judge Merchan said he will rule on 9/6 on Trump’s motion to throw out the NY verdicts. He will deny it and will sentence Trump on the 9/18 scheduled date. It will then be a choice between FORMER PROSECUTOR vs CURRENT CONVICT,” said former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, referring to this year’s presidential election.
The “former prosecutor” in the election is Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president following the recent withdrawal from the election of President Joe Biden after weeks of scrutiny on his advanced age.
Biden endorsed Harris as he stepped aside from the race, and the nation’s second-in-command promptly locked down the support needed from Democratic convention delegates to become the party’s presumptive pick. Endorsements from prominent party members and grassroots support also poured in, the latter in the form of campaign donations and sign-ups to volunteer. On Friday, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama joined the prominent Democrats publicly backing the Harris presidential campaign — which the Biden-Harris campaign became.
