President Trump appealed his New York hush money criminal conviction and has brought on a new team of attorneys to represent him.
The five-attorney team from elite law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which will be led by Robert Giuffra, submitted a notice of appeal dated Tuesday, formally beginning the appeals process in Trump’s 34-count felony conviction.
“President Donald J. Trump’s appeal is important for the rule of law, New York’s reputation as a global business, financial and legal center, as well as for the presidency and all public officials,” Guiffra said in a statement.
“The misuse of the criminal law by the Manhattan DA to target President Trump sets a dangerous precedent, and we look forward to the case being dismissed on appeal,” he continued.
The team will be rounded ou by attorneys Matthew Schwartz, James McDonald, Jeffrey Wall and Morgan Ratner. All of whom are former Supreme Court clerks.
The team will replace Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, Trump’s mainstay trial attorneys who are now set to serve in the No. 2 and No. 3 top posts at the Justice Department, respectively, if confirmed by the Senate. Bove is serving as acting deputy attorney general in the meantime.
A New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for covering up a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016 as part of an intended conspiracy to unlawfully influence that year’s presidential election.
Trump’s felonies remain on his record, and his legal team has sought to dismiss the case entirely.
According to The Hill, the top-notch legal team will next bring their efforts to the Appellate Division, First Department. The court previously rejected Trump’s various pre-trial appeals, but his sentencing now enables the appeals bench to confront the historic case in normal course.
It remains unclear if the appeal will proceed while Trump is in the White House. Legal experts largely agree a sitting president is protected from criminal prosecution.
Federal prosecutors in Florida moved to dismiss the appeal in the Mar-a-Lago prosecution, pushing to bring an end to the Trump classified documents case.
The motion, which comes after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the state assigned a new prosecutor to the case, still needs to be approved by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
But doing so signals an end to an appeal ignited by former special counsel Jack Smith, as he fought a lower court ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon finding he was unlawfully appointed.
The move is more broadly set to unwind charges against President Trump’s two co-defendants in the case, who the Biden administration still wished to prosecute if Cannon’s order was reversed.
The motion noted that valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos de Oliveira, who were accused of aiding Trump in concealing boxes of documents from prosecutors and his own attorney, did not oppose the move.
By moving to dismiss the appeal with prejudice, prosecutors would be barred from relaunching any similar efforts in the future.
