Trump's Lawyers Ask Appeals Court to Overturn Hush Money Conviction
President Donald Trump's lawyers are asking a New York appeals court to throw out his hush money conviction, more than two years after a jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts.
Arguments were set for Thursday before the Appellate Division, First Department, a mid-level state appeals court in Manhattan. Trump was not expected to attend. Each side will get 15 minutes to answer the panel's questions.
The Case Against Trump
In May 2024, a unanimous jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to adult film performer Stormy Daniels. His then-lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels days before the 2016 election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump about a decade earlier. Trump has denied that anything sexual happened.
Trump's company reimbursed Cohen in 2017 and recorded the payments as legal expenses. Under New York law, falsifying business records is a felony only if it is done to commit or conceal another crime, a key issue in the case, The Associated Press reported.
The verdict made Trump the first former U.S. president convicted of a crime, but it did not stop his return to the White House, and he has received no punishment. He has continued to deny wrongdoing.
Trump's Arguments
Trump's legal team argues the case was the product of "immense political pressure" on a Democratic prosecutor and calls the prosecution's theory "a house of cards," built on "clearly insufficient" evidence and flawed jury instructions.
His lawyers say the payments to Cohen were legal expenses, not hidden campaign spending, and that any money spent was meant to spare Trump's family embarrassment. They also argue federal election law should have governed the payment, overriding a state prosecution.
A central argument involves presidential immunity. Trump's lawyers say jurors should not have heard testimony about White House conversations, office practices and his social media posts during his first term. Attorney Robert Giuffra Jr. wrote in an October filing that when a president addresses the nation to defend himself from allegations of personal misconduct, those communications are protected, according to CBS News.
The Prosecution's Response
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office says the legal theory and jury instructions were sound. In a July brief, prosecutors described the 2016 scheme as "a conspiracy to defraud the American public and government regulators."
Steven Wu, Bragg's appeals chief, argued that a president's discussions about "a purely private matter," even with a White House adviser, are not official acts protected by immunity. He added that there was "a mountain" of other evidence against Trump.
Prosecutors say Trump "orchestrated a conspiracy" to keep unflattering information from voters, violating federal campaign finance laws, among others.
What Comes Next
Both sides have signaled the case is likely headed to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court. It is not clear when the Appellate Division will rule.
Trump is also fighting on a separate federal track, trying to move the case to federal court and have it dismissed on immunity grounds. A federal judge rejected that effort for the third time in August, and arguments in Trump's appeal are set for Nov. 16. Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who repeatedly ruled against Trump in that effort, died a week before Thursday's hearing. In one ruling, he wrote that reimbursing Cohen "cannot be considered the performance of a constitutional duty."
Trump's legal team has also changed since the trial. Todd Blanche, who helped defend Trump in 2024, is now U.S. attorney general, and former defense attorney Emil Bove III is now a federal judge.
The appeal comes just days after a bruising midterm election for Republicans, in which Democrats won the House and flipped the Senate.
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