NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� lawyers are alleging that his hush money conviction was tainted by juror misconduct, opening a new front in their fight to overturn the verdict and throw out the historic case.
Trump鈥檚 lawyers raised the misconduct claim in court papers made public Tuesday, as Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan weighs a pending defense request to throw out the case in light of his impending return to the White House.
Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a letter to Merchan that they had 鈥渆vidence of grave juror misconduct during the trial.鈥�
The details of the allegations were redacted and hidden from public view. Three of the letter鈥檚 seven pages were entirely covered in black ink. The letter, dated Dec. 3, was added to the public court docket on Tuesday.
Merchan said in a separate letter Monday that he ordered the reactions both to preserve the integrity of the case and to ensure the safety of jurors, whose names have been kept private.
Blanche and Bove鈥檚 letter 鈥渃onsists entirely of unsworn allegations,鈥� Merchan wrote. Allowing them to be filed publicly without redactions 鈥渨ould only serve to undermine the integrity of these proceedings while simultaneously placing the safety of the jurors at grave risk,鈥� he wrote.
鈥淎llegations of juror misconduct should be thoroughly investigated,鈥� Merchan wrote. 鈥淗owever, this Court is prohibited from deciding such claims on the basis of mere hearsay and conjecture.鈥�
Other letters pertaining to the juror misconduct allegation were filed by Trump鈥檚 lawyers and prosecutors on Dec. 5 and Dec. 9. They have yet to be made public.
A message seeking comment was left with the Manhattan district attorney鈥檚 office, which prosecuted the hush money case.
Trump has been fighting for months to reverse his May 30 conviction on to conceal a to porn actor to suppress her claim that they had sex a decade earlier, which he denies. The payment was made shortly before the 2016 election.
On Monday, Merchan rejected Trump鈥檚 request to throw out the case on presidential immunity grounds, finding that the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 July 1 ruling granting former president鈥檚 broad protection from prosecution did not require upending the case.
Trump鈥檚 immunity claim was just one of several efforts he and his lawyers have made to get his conviction overturned and the case dismissed.
After Trump won last month鈥檚 election, Merchan indefinitely postponed his late November sentencing so both sides could suggest next steps. that anything other than immediate dismissal would undermine the transfer of power and cause unconstitutional 鈥渄isruptions鈥� to the presidency.
proposed several alternatives.
They included: freezing the case until Trump leaves office in 2029; agreeing that any future sentence won鈥檛 include jail time; or treating the case the way some courts do when a defendant dies.
In the last scenario, borrowed from what some states do in such an occurrence, the case would be closed by noting that Trump was convicted but that he wasn鈥檛 sentenced and his appeal wasn鈥檛 resolved because he took office. Trump鈥檚 lawyers branded the concept 鈥渁bsurd.鈥� They also objected to the other suggestions.
Trump, a Republican, takes office Jan. 20. He鈥檚 the first former president to be convicted of a felony and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office.
Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press
