纽约曼哈顿地方检察官办公室敦促纽约中级上诉法院，驳回唐纳德・特朗普总统针对其 2024 年封口费刑事案件定罪结果提出的上诉。该案令特朗普成为美国历史上首位被刑事定罪、随后以罪犯身份就任总统的美国总统。
曼哈顿检方指控，特朗普为提升 2016 年总统大选胜算，策划向成人电影演员斯托米・丹尼尔斯支付封口费，随后伪造纽约商业账目掩盖相关违法行为。曼哈顿陪审团就此裁定特朗普 34 项伪造商业记录罪名成立。
特朗普主张，美国最高法院 2024 年颇具争议的总统豁免权判决为总统 “公务行为” 提供广泛起诉豁免，据此，检方庭审中的部分证据与证词不应被采信。
地方检察官办公室在最新提交的法律文书中反驳：花钱封口，试图掩盖一段长期否认的婚外情，不属于任何总统公务行为。
文书写道：“多家法院已认定，被告面临的刑事指控源于其非公务、非总统职权范畴内的行为，被告本人如今也承认这一点。被告声称检方在庭审出示公务行为相关证据，违反豁免权原则，该主张不能成立。大量不受总统公务豁免权影响的证据，已经确凿证明被告罪名成立。”
检方同时驳斥特朗普的另一项主张：审理本案的胡安・梅尔昌法官应当回避，理由是法官曾向民主党阵营捐赠合计 35 美元政治献金。
检方向上诉庭第一审判部提交文件称：“法官多年前仅合计 35 美元的小额捐款，不足以构成回避理由。司法伦理咨询委员会早已认定法官无需回避，司法伦理基本准则同样支持这一结论。”
该定罪判决原本附带监禁可能性，但梅尔昌考虑到被判刑者当时为当选总统这一特殊情形，最终对特朗普作出无条件免予处罚的判决。
Manhattan DA challenges Trump＇s appeal of his 2024 hush money conviction
The Manhattan district attorney＇s office is urging an intermediate appellate court in New York to reject President Donald Trump＇s challenges to his 2024criminal hush money convictionthat made him the first American president to be convicted of a crime and then to take office as a felon．
A jury in Manhattanconvicted Trumpof 34 counts of falsifying business records after Manhattan prosecutors alleged that he engaged in a ＂scheme＂ to boost his chances during the 2016 presidential election through a series of hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels， then falsified New York business records to cover up that alleged criminal conduct．
Trump has argued the Supreme Court＇s controversial2024 presidential immunity decision， which established sweeping protection from prosecution for ＂official acts，＂ made some of the evidence and testimony from the prosecution＇s case off-limits．
In its new filing， the district attorney＇s office argued there is nothing official about paying off an adult film star to keep quiet about a long-denied affair with Trump．
＂The criminal charges here arose from defendant＇s unofficial， nonpresidential conduct -- as multiple courts have already found， and defendant now concedes． Defendant complains that the immunity doctrine was violated because the People introduced evidence of official acts during the trial， but he is wrong，＂ the district attorney＇s filing said， arguing that ＂a mountain of evidence unaffected by any claim of official presidential immunity overwhelmingly established defendant＇s guilt．＂
Prosecutors also took aim at Trump＇s claim the trial judge， Justice Juan Merchan， should have recused himself over $35 in Democratic political donations．
＂［T］here was no basis for the trial judge to recuse himself due to his years-old and de minimis （$35 in aggregate） contributions to candidates and organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party． The Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics has already found that recusal was not required， and basic principles of judicial ethics support this conclusion，＂ prosecutors wrote in their filing to the Appellate Division＇s First Department．
Trump＇s conviction carried the possibility of prison time， but Merchan sentenced Trump to anunconditional discharge， noting the extraordinary circumstances of handing down a sentence to the then-president-elect．
