Donald Trump asks court to dismiss conviction for hush money ahead of sentencing | american news

President-elect Donald Trump has asked a New York court to throw out his conviction for hush money before Friday’s scheduled sentencing.

It is set for January 10, just 10 days before the presidential inauguration.

Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records, related to an alleged scheme to conceal a hush money payment to an adult actress Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of his first 2016 campaign.

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Trump’s spokesman has called the case “lawless” and a “witch hunt”.

Lawyers for the 78-year-old have previously pressured to reject the verdict and tossing the case out of presidential immunity grounds because of his impending return to the White House.

Their request to a state appeals court represents a last-ditch effort by Trump to block a lower court ruling on Monday to proceed with sentencing.

In the ruling, Judge Juan Merchan denied a request by Trump’s lawyers to delay sentencing while they appealed two of his earlier rulings that upheld a Manhattan jury’s guilty verdict on 34 counts of falsifying records in May.

In scheduling Trump’s sentencing for Friday, Judge Merchan said he was not inclined to send Trump to prison.

He said a sentence of unconditional release, which essentially puts a guilty verdict on his record without a fine or probation, would be the most practical approach ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

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On Monday, Trump’s lawyers cited both presidential immunity and the demands of the impending inauguration, saying Judge Merchan’s intention not to punish the president-elect was “unintentional.”

“Violations of presidential immunity cannot be ignored in favor of a rush order before the inauguration,” the lawyers said in a lawsuit.

Trump has always denied a sexual encounter with Daniels, but was convicted of falsifying business records over a $130,000 (£102,000) payment to allegedly prevent her from going public with allegations in the run-up to the 2016 election.

The case made Trump the first US president to be charged and convicted of a crime.

His lawyers have made two unsuccessful attempts to have the case dismissed, which they now say they plan to appeal.