Trump files formal notice of plan to appeal hush money conviction

Donald Trump appeals criminal conviction for hush money payment to porn star, facing no jail time.

U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyers on Wednesday (January 29, 2025) formally notified a New York state court of Trump's intent to appeal his criminal conviction on charges stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.

In the notice, Mr. Trump's lawyers said they would appeal both the jury's May 30, 2024, guilty verdict and Justice Juan Merchan's January 10, 2025, sentence of unconditional discharge to a mid-level state appeals court.

The sentence, imposed just days before Mr. Trump's January 20 inauguration to a second White House term, meant he will face no jail time or other legal punishment, but that a former judgment of guilt would be placed on his record.

Mr. Trump, the first-ever sitting or former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, has long said he planned to appeal. After filing the formal notice, his lawyers now have six months to submit a brief laying out their arguments in greater detail.

The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Mr. Trump's former personal lawyer made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had some years earlier with Trump, which he denies.

Mr. Trump, a Republican businessman-turned-politician, was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment. Trump argued that the case, brought by Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, was an effort to harm his 2024 presidential election campaign.

"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," Robert Giuffra, a lawyer who will be handling Trump's appeal, said in a statement.