President Donald Trump’s legal team has filed an appeal to reverse his New York criminal conviction, in which he was found guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), involved accusations that Trump improperly marked payments he made to his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen as legal expenses in an effort to conceal a $130,000 settlement payment that Cohen made to porn actress Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.
‘This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction.’
Trump secured a new legal team, attorneys with the Manhattan-based firm Sullivan & Cromwell, in January following his inauguration. He was previously represented in the case by Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, whom he has since appointed as U.S. deputy attorney general and U.S. principal deputy associate attorney general, respectively.
Judge Juan Merchan sentenced the then-president elect just days before Inauguration Day with an “unconditional discharge,” which allowed Trump to avoid jail time, fines, and probation supervision. While the sentence did not interfere with Trump’s ability to return to the White House, it did brand him with a felony criminal conviction.
On Monday, Trump’s legal team filed a 96-page appeal, writing, “This case should never have seen the inside of a courtroom, let alone resulted in a conviction.”
RELATED: Trump’s new lawyers move to appeal New York criminal conviction over ‘misuse’ of law
Juan Merchan. Marc A. Hermann for New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“The DA, a Democrat, brought those charges in the middle of a contentious presidential election in which President Trump was the leading Republican candidate,” the court filing read.
The president’s attorneys claimed Bragg “concocted a purported felony by stacking time-barred misdemeanors under a convoluted legal theory.”
Alvin Bragg. Photo by YUKI IWAMURA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital, “President Trump’s legal team filed a powerhouse appeal in the Manhattan DA’s Witch Hunt, as the president continues his fight to put an end to the Radical Democrat Lawfare once and for all.”
“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the Federal and New York State Constitutions, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately overturned and dismissed,” the spokesperson said. “President Trump will keep defeating Democrat weaponization at every turn as he [focuses] on his singular mission to Make America Great Again.”
Blaze News reached out to Bragg’s office for comment.
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