President Donald Trump appeals his New York hush money conviction

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has appealed his hush money conviction, seeking to erase the verdict that made him the first person with a criminal record to win the office.

Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal Wednesday, asking the state’s mid-level appeals court to overturn his conviction last May on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

The case, involving an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 Republican campaign, was the only one of his criminal cases to go to trial.

A notice of appeal starts the appeals process in New York. Trump’s lawyers will have an opportunity to expand on their grievances in subsequent court filings.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, will have a chance to respond in court papers. A message seeking comment was left with the office Wednesday.

Trump hired a new legal team from the firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP to handle the appeal, spearheaded by the firm’s co-chair Robert J. Giuffra Jr.

Giuffra and four other lawyers from his firm stepped in after the president tabbed his two main defense lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, for top positions in his administration’s Justice Department.

“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,” Giuffra said in a statement provided by a Trump spokesperson. “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."

Trump was sentenced Jan. 10 to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him jail, probation, a fine or other punishment.

The Republican had long vowed to appeal but couldn’t do so until he was sentenced.

The trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, previously rejected Trump’s requests to throw out the conviction on presidential immunity grounds and in light of his return to the White House.

Appearing by video at his sentencing, he called the case a “political witch hunt,” “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.”

A Manhattan jury convicted Trump last May of falsifying business records kept in the gilded halls of his eponymous real estate empire.

While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise.

Prosecutors said Trump mislabeled payments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen as legal fees in order to conceal what they really were: reimbursement for $130,000 that Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet in the homestretch of Trump’s 2016 presidential run.

At the time, Daniels was considering going public with a claim that she and the married Trump had a 2006 sexual encounter. He says they never did.

Trump denied any wrongdoing. He and his attorneys said the payments to Cohen were properly categorized as legal expenses.

“For this I got indicted,” Trump said at his sentencing. “It’s incredible, actually.”

Trump’s lawyers also argued that Trump wanted to squelch claims like Daniels’ to protect his family, not his campaign, from what he says were falsehoods.

Trump won’t be able to pardon himself. Trump’s case was tried in state court, but presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes.