NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — President Donald Trump formally appealed his conviction on 34 criminal counts in New York state\u2019s so-called hush money case, arguing the verdict was the result of a flawed trial and a politically charged prosecution that sought to derail his 2024 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n
In a filing late Monday with a New York appeals court, Trump attorney Robert Giuffra said the felony charges levied by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg were \u201cmanufactured\u201d under a \u201cconvoluted legal theory,\u201d and the judge failed to remove himself from the case over alleged conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n
A jury of 12 New Yorkers in May 2024 found Trump guilty of falsifying business records dozens of times to conceal a hush-money payment to a porn star, a conspiracy that prosecutors said deprived voters of vital information before the 2016 election.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike every criminal defendant in a New York courtroom, President Trump was entitled to a fair trial before a properly instructed jury and a neutral judge,\u201d Giuffra said. \u201cInstead, he was convicted after a trial that featured repeated and clear violations of his constitutional rights, federal law, and New York law, presided over by a judge who was required to recuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, 79, had faced as long as four years in prison when he was sentenced on Jan. 10 by Justice Juan Merchan in Manhattan. But Merchan sentenced Trump to no jail, probation or fine, saying the unusually light term was a direct result of a US Supreme Court ruling months earlier that gave the president broad immunity for acts while in office.<\/p>\n
Bragg\u2019s office didn\u2019t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s appeal filing focused on claims his defense team made throughout the criminal case, including that Bragg improperly elevated a series of misdemeanors into a felony by using a New York law in a way that was never intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter years of fruitless investigation into decade-old, baseless allegations \u2014 and under immense political pressure to criminally charge President Donald J. Trump for something \u2014 New York\u2019s district attorney manufactured felony charges against a once-former and now-sitting president,\u201d Trump\u2019s lawyer said in the filing.<\/p>\n
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