Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of former President Donald Trump's immunity defense, the ball started rolling on his side of the legal bench.
According to an NBC News opinion piece penned by Catherine Christian, former assistant district attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, Trump's attorneys are taking "full advantage" of the immunity ruling.
She filed the high court's immunity decision as another "delay tactic" for Trump and his lawyers to push trials out to where they're held after the November election.
One example was Trump's sentencing in the New York verdict, which was supposed to happen last week, but was delayed as the court considers the immunity decision's ramifications.
Christian also noted that last week, Trump's lawyers have already moved to vacate the felony charges.
She wrote:
"This motion was not a surprise. New York Criminal Procedure Law 330.30 allows a defendant to request that the trial judge set aside the guilty verdict at 'any time after rendition of a verdict of guilty and before sentence.' The grounds for doing so are limited, but within hours of the Supreme Court decision, Trump’s lawyers told Judge Juan Merchan in a letter that Trump’s conviction should be set aside."
The high court's immunity ruling covers "official acts," and while the ruling was seemingly exclusive to the classified documents probe, Trump's lawyers argue that it also applies to the New York verdict.
Christian wrote:
However, Trump’s lawyers are arguing that evidence was shown during his trial that included White House “official acts." This evidence, Trump's legal team says, “should never have been put before the jury.”
The key debate now is the language used for the immunity ruling and determining which acts were "official acts" and subject to the ruling.
Christian added, "Merchan will need to parse through these various actions and determine which, if any, should be entitled to absolute or presumptive immunity."
Trump's lawyers have scored many legal victories in recent months, mostly in the way of delaying trials until after the November election.
Those are huge wins, as if Trump wins in November, his appointed Attorney General can quash any charges and completely kill cases against him, or Trump can use his executive powers to pardon himself and others involved.
So far, Trump has only gained in the polls and overall popularity as a result of the cases against him, as many Americans are sympathetic with Trump's plight with the justice system.
Legal experts believe that Trump's legal issues, especially if he wins, will quickly dwindle.
