Trump not granted immunity in hush money case

New York Judge Juan Merchan ruled on December 16 that the reason Mr. Trump enjoys presidential immunity cannot be used to dismiss the case of falsifying records and paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.

According to the judge, the evidence presented by Mr. Trump's lawyers showed that his actions in the above incident were not official actions.

The ruling only addressed Trump’s immunity as a former president. The judge did not rule on Trump’s legal team’s efforts to dismiss the case on the grounds that he is now president-elect. Merchan had previously postponed Trump’s sentencing indefinitely.

The New York judge's latest decision raises the possibility that Mr Trump could become the first president to enter the White House as a convicted felon, pending an appeal of the jury's verdict.

In late May, a New York jury found Mr. Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to pay to cover up unfavorable information during his 2016 election campaign, related to his affair with porn star Daniels.

After a jury convicted Mr Trump, the US Supreme Court ruled that former presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts they performed while in office.

Mr Trump's lawyers cited the ruling in their efforts to dismiss the case, arguing that Mr Trump's actions warranted immunity.

After Mr. Trump was elected president, the New York prosecutor said the case needed to be evaluated "in an unprecedented context."

Prosecutors later agreed that the president would not be convicted while in office, but that it was necessary to uphold Mr Trump's conviction, arguing that completely rejecting the jury's decision would be an unreasonable extreme.