Justice Alito says there was no discussion of Trump's pending case when the two spoke
The call took place a day before Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt his sentencing, though Samuel Alito said they did not discuss the emergency application.
WASHINGTON — Justice Samuel Alito confirmed Wednesday that he took a phone call from Donald Trump one day before the president-elect asked the Supreme Court to halt his upcoming sentencing, but insisted that the case was not discussed.
Alito said in a statement that they spoke Tuesday afternoon after one of his former law clerks, William Levi, "asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position."
"I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon," Alito said in the statement, which was first reported by ABC News. "We did not discuss the emergency application he filed today, and indeed, I was not even aware at the time of our conversation that such an application would be filed."
On Wednesday morning, Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt legal proceedings in his hush money case ahead of his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Friday.
In the filing, the president-elect's lawyers argued that Trump is already protected by presidential immunity, and that the high court should block the New York proceedings in order "to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government."
Rating: 5