Nearly two years after a Manhattan jury found President Donald Trump guilty on 34 felony counts in the New York hush money case, the legal battle to erase the president’s lone criminal conviction remains alive across multiple courts, even as the political moment that surrounded the historic verdict has largely faded into history.When the verdict came down on May 30, 2024, former President Joe Biden was still seeking reelection, and Democrats openly hoped the conviction would cripple then-candidate Trump’s bid to return to the White House.Instead, Biden’s disastrous debate performance less than a month later upended the race, and within weeks, he dropped out altogether. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, and Trump ultimately won the presidency despite becoming the first former president ever convicted of a crime.
Trump’s then-legal team included Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who, in the second administration, were rewarded for their loyalty by being named acting attorney general and a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
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And yet, the conviction itself remains unresolved, and the record still stands that Trump is the first convicted felon to serve as president.
