Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: US President Donald Trump has formally filed an appeal against his conviction in the hush money case. Trump’s lawyers filed the appeal late on Monday in a New York appeals court, arguing that his 2024 criminal conviction was “flawed” because the trial was “fatally marred” by faulty evidence and overseen by a judge who should have recused himself.
In May 2024, a 12-member New York jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment of $130,000 to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
It was alleged that the payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to silence Daniels’s story of an alleged affair before the 2016 election. Trump later reimbursed Cohen for the payment.
According to New York state law, falsifying business records becomes a felony if it was done to commit or conceal another crime. In January, Trump was sentenced to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, wherein he did not serve any jail term or other punishments, but the conviction remained on his record.
