Judge rules Donald Trump does not have presidential immunity protections in hush money case

In May, Mr Trump became the first former US President to be convicted of a crime after he was found guilty on all 34 counts of fraud by falsifying business records to cover up payments of $200,000 ($US130,000) to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

It was alleged Mr Trump wanted to buy her silence about an alleged extramarital sexual encounter which was in danger of becoming public knowledge in the run up to the 2016 US Presidential election. Paying to keep stories quiet isn’t illegal but falsifying business records is.

Mr Trump denied a sexual encounter with Ms Daniels took place and denied all the charges.

The 78-year-old was elected President for a second time in the 2024 US election in November.

But on Monday (Tuesday, Australian time), Judge Juan Merchan said a Supreme Court decision granting presidents sweeping immunity for official acts did not apply to the hush money conviction as testimony at the New York trial related “entirely to unofficial conduct,” CNN and The New York Times reported.

It is just one of several avenues that Mr Trump’s legal team have reportedly taken to try to clear his record of the conviction.

The American publications both noted that Judge Merchan did not rule on a motion from Mr Trump’s lawyers to dismiss the conviction because he has now been elected president. He could rule on that as soon as this week.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have argued that keeping the conviction alive would impose “unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern,” according to The New York Times.

The President-elect has not yet been sentenced and faces up to four years in prison, but legal experts have already predicted he won’t face hard time.

Mr Trump could still become the first president to enter the White House with a felony conviction.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung claimed the ruling on Monday was “a direct violation of the Supreme Court’s decision on immunity”.

After Mr Trump’s election victory last month, two legal cases against him in Washington and Florida were dropped because of a longstanding Department of Justice policy not to prosecute a sitting president.

One case alleged that Mr Trump illegally sought to overturn the 2020 US election and the other, alleged that he illegally retained classified documents after his time in the White House.

“The Government’s position on the merits of the defendant’s prosecution has not changed,” Special Counsel Jack Smith wrote in a filing. “But the circumstances have.”