From the Washington Examiner: President Donald Trump asked an appeals court on Monday to overturn his conviction in the New York hush money case, marking his latest attempt to erase his felon status.
In court filings, Trump’s legal team cited the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, issued shortly after the jury convicted Trump in the hush money case, as a reason for the appeals court to throw out the conviction. The high court’s ruling means prosecutors should have been barred from using evidence connected to Trump’s “official” acts as a president in the case against him, lawyers argued.
Trump also urged a federal appeals court to transfer the New York state criminal case to federal court. It’s similar to the president’s move over the summer, when his lawyers urged a federal appeals panel to move the hush money case. Such a change could open up the pathway for the Supreme Court to hear the case, which could be friendlier territory for the president, as the court has ruled largely in his favor on presidential immunity.
Trump became a felon in May 2024 when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of falsifying records connected to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The president was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal an alleged second crime that he had already committed.
In seeking to have the case overthrown, Trump’s legal team has pointed out several alleged errors that were made throughout the trial, including one where Alvin Bragg’s team never officially defined what the second crime was they were accusing Trump of.
In the 111-page filing on Monday, Trump’s legal team also argued that New York Judge Juan Merchan committed an error by allowing evidence to be presented that should have been protected by presidential immunity, such as dragging in Trump’s former former communications director Hope Hicks to testify.
Trump’s lawyers also noted that Judge Merchan had made political donations to Democrats, including Joe Biden, and his daughter worked for a digital agency whose clients include a number of Democratic officials.
BREAKING: Trump asks New York appeals court to overturn conviction in criminal case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg pic.twitter.com/OemnWn2Owx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 28, 2025
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