New York Judge Juan Merchan ruled Monday that President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case should not be dismissed because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. After Trump was found guilty in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records, his lawyers have pursued several avenues in hopes of tossing the case, including a formal motion to dismiss the case altogether now that he’s been elected president, which Merchan has yet to rule on. In his 41-page decision, Merchan honed in on Trump’s argument of presidential immunity and said that the evidence presented during the trial was related “entirely to unofficial conduct” and should therefore receive “no immunity protections.” Trump’s campaign spokesman Steve Cheung said in a statement that Merchan’s decision is a “direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity, and other longstanding jurisprudence.” Trump’s lawyers are expected to appeal the decision, per CNN. Trump has yet to be sentenced, with prosecutors previously agreeing that the president-elect would not be sentenced while he is in office.
