Trump’s lawyers allege juror misconduct in latest bid to get his hush money conviction dismissed
NEW YORK– NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump Lawyers argue his hush-money conviction was tainted by juror misconduct, opening a new front in their fight to overturn the verdict and throw out the landmark case.
Trump’s lawyers raised the misconduct claim in court papers made public Tuesday, as Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan weighs a pending defense request to dismiss the case in light of his impending return to the White House.
Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a letter to Merchan that they had “evidence of serious juror misconduct during the trial.”
The details of the allegations were redacted and kept from the public. Three of the seven pages of the letter were completely covered in black ink. The letter, dated December 3, was added to the public court on Tuesday.
Merchan said in a separate letter Monday that he ordered the responses to both preserve the integrity of the case and ensure the safety of jurors, whose names have been kept private.
Blanche and Bove’s letter “consists entirely of unsworn allegations,” Merchan wrote. Allowing them to be filed publicly without redactions “would only undermine the integrity of this proceeding while placing the safety of the jurors at great risk,” he wrote.
“Allegations of juror misconduct must be thoroughly investigated,” Merchan wrote. “However, this Court is prohibited from assessing such claims on the basis of mere hearsay and conjecture.”
Other letters related to the juror misconduct allegation were filed by Trump’s lawyers and prosecutors on December 5 and 9. They have yet to be made public.
A message seeking comment was left with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the hush money case.
Trump has been fighting for months to overturn his May 30 conviction 34 cases of falsification of corporate documents a hide Payment of $130,000 in hush money to porn actor Stormy Daniels to suppress her claim that they had sex ten years earlier, which he denies. The payment took place shortly before the 2016 elections.
On Monday, Merchan rejected Trump’s request to dismiss the case on the grounds of presidential immunity, ruling that the July 1 U.S. Supreme Court ruling granting the former president broad protection from prosecution was not necessary to resolve the case to overthrow.
Trump’s immunity claim was just one of several efforts he and his lawyers have made to overturn his conviction and dismiss the case.
After Trump won the election last month, Merchan indefinitely postponed his late November sentencing so both sides could propose next steps. That’s what Trump’s lawyers argued that anything other than immediate resignation would undermine the transition of power and create unconstitutional “disruptions” to the presidency.
Prosecutors, who want to uphold the verdict, suggested a number of alternatives.
They include: freezing the case until Trump leaves office in 2029; agree that any future punishment will not include imprisonment; or hear the case as some courts do when a suspect dies.
The latter scenario, borrowing from what some states do in such an incident, would close the case by noting that Trump was convicted, but he was not convicted and his appeal was not resolved because he is in power came. Trump’s lawyers called the concept “absurd.” They also objected to the other suggestions.
Trump, a Republican, takes office on January 20. He is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal elected to this position.