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Attorneys for President Donald Trump on Monday filed an appeal in his New York hush money case, seeking to overturn the conviction for falsifying business records related to a payment intended to keep Stormy Daniels quiet ahead of the 2016 election.
A jury found Trump guilty last year on 34 counts that stemmed from reimbursements to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, after Cohen paid Daniels to refrain from speaking publicly about an alleged relationship. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and says the case is politically driven.
He was sentenced in January to unconditional discharge, avoiding jail time, probation or a financial penalty. The conviction remains on his record.
“This is the most politically charged prosecution in our nation’s history,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in the court filing. “The DA, a Democrat, brought those charges in the middle of a contentious Presidential election in which President Trump was the leading Republican candidate. These charges against President Trump were as unprecedented as their political context.”
The filing also accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg of trying to “twist” New York law to persuade the jury concerning President Trump’s charges.
“Targeting alleged conduct that has never been found to violate any New York law, the DA concocted a purported felony by stacking time-barred misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory, which the DA then improperly obscured until the charge conference. This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction,” the appeal stated.
The legal team also noted earlier efforts to remove the case from state jurisdiction. In June, Trump’s lawyers asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to move the proceedings to federal court, citing a Supreme Court ruling that presidents have immunity from prosecution for some official actions while in office but not for unofficial conduct.
The president’s unconditional discharge came just 10 days ahead of his swearing in for a second term in the White House. President Trump has continued to refer back to his court cases, including the hanging of his mug shot outside the Oval Office.