Trump seizes on Supreme Court immunity decision, tries to overturn his Manhattan conviction

Former President Donald Trump is moving his chips in an attempt to overturn his sentence in Manhattan over the controversial legal case involving actress Stormy Daniels, in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying documents.

According to a report by The New York Times, hours after the Supreme Court argued that presidents have absolute immunity from actions that are deemed official, the president's legal team mobilized and sent a letter to Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case.

According to the newspaper, Trump's lawyers requested permission to file a motion to overturn the guilty verdict, in a move that came just hours after the Supreme Court issued its ruling on one of Trump's other criminal cases for election interference.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court narrowed the case against the former president brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith, remanding the indictment to a trial court that will determine whether or not Trump's actions related to the case correspond to official actions.

According to the NYT, the letter will not be made public until Tuesday, at which point the prosecutors will have a chance to respond.

The newspaper noted that, despite their efforts, the chances of overturning the conviction are remote, considering that the Manhattan case focuses on acts the former president performed as a candidate and not as head of state.

Nevertheless, it is quite likely that Trump's lawyers will argue that prosecutors built the case in question on evidence from his time in the White House.

"And under the Supreme Court’s new ruling, prosecutors not only may not charge a president for any official acts, but also cannot cite evidence involving official acts to bolster other accusations," the NYT reviewed, citing a source familiar with Trump's legal moves.

Although it is still too early to know what impact Trump's legal move will cause and it is equally unclear how the Manhattan District Attorney's Office will respond, the New York daily noticed the move by the former president's lawyers appeared at least to cause a brief interruption: "The district attorney’s office did not make a sentencing recommendation to the judge about whether to imprison Mr. Trump, as was expected on Monday."