Donald Trump has lost a bid to overturn his conviction in a New York “hush money” criminal case in the wake of a US Supreme Court decision that grants broad immunity for presidential actions.
The decision by a judge on Monday comes as Trump prepares to re-enter the White House in January, the first former president to ever be convicted of a felony. All four criminal cases brought against him since his first term have either been dismissed, put on hold or otherwise delayed.
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts earlier this year in a Manhattan court of falsifying business records in connection with what prosecutors alleged was a scheme to buy the silence of a porn actor over an affair. His sentencing has been indefinitely postponed, however, after he won another four-year term in November’s election.