Former U.S. President Donald Trump made comments as he left the court after a jury found him guilty of all 34 felonies in his criminal trial in New York State Supreme Court on May 30, 2024.
Justin Lane | via Reuters
A judge ruled Friday that former President Donald Trump will not be sentenced in his hush-money criminal case in New York until after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
A Manhattan Supreme Court judge said the sentencing date originally scheduled for September 18 will be changed to November 26 Rule of Juan Merchan.
If the court grants Republican presidential candidate Trump’s request to dismiss the case based on a Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential immunity, he will not be sentenced at all.
In his four-page order, Merchin said he would rule on Trump’s request to vacate the jury’s guilty verdict on Nov. 12. Sentenced.
“This matter is unique and occupies a unique place in the history of this country,” the judge wrote.
If Trump is sentenced, the public deserves “a sentencing hearing focused entirely on the jury’s verdict” and one that is “free of distractions or distortions.”
“Unfortunately, the complexities of the times we now live in make the requirement for a sentencing hearing difficult to enforce, if necessary,” Merchian wrote.
The case centers on a $130,000 payment by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to stop porn star Stormy Daniels from speaking before the 2016 presidential election about an alleged one-night stand she had with Trump years ago. After Trump won the election, Cohen was repaid in monthly installments.
In mid-July, Trump asked Merchant to dismiss the case and vacate his guilty verdict, pointing to the Supreme Court’s explosive July 1 ruling that granted the former president “presumptive immunity” for official conduct while in office.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office responded that the ruling had nothing to do with the hush money case and would not support vacating the jury’s verdict even if it did apply.
The Supreme Court’s ruling has prompted Merchin to postpone Trump’s sentencing, originally scheduled for July 11, by more than two months.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement on Friday that “the Manhattan District Attorney’s election interference witch hunt should not lead to a prison sentence.”
“Under the rules of the U.S. Supreme Court, this case and all other Harris-Biden hoax cases should be dismissed,” Zhang said.
A spokesperson for Bragg told NBC News that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office “is ready to proceed with sentencing on the new date set by the court.”
Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly sought to have Merchin recused from the case. They accuse him of political bias before and during the trial, in large part because his adult daughter works for a political firm whose clients include prominent Democrats such as President Joe Biden.
Two requests for recusal were rejected after a silent review before the trial, which began in mid-April and ended in late May. Trump was found guilty of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records.
On August 13, the Supreme Court denied Trump’s third recusal request, saying one of his arguments – an attack on the still-standing gag order that restricted some of Trump’s speech related to the case – “only It was nothing more than an attempt to express dissatisfaction with the incident,” the court ruled.
A day later, the Trump team urged Merchant to delay sentencing until after the Nov. 5 election. “Sentencing is currently scheduled to occur after early voting begins in the presidential election,” they noted in a court filing.
They argued that delaying the sentencing date would “reduce, if not eliminate, questions about the integrity of future proceedings.”
Trump also tried unsuccessfully to move the hush-money case to federal court. Trump’s lawyers asked a federal appeals court on Wednesday to suspend a U.S. District Court order sending the case back to New York state court.
Bragg’s office told the appeals court in a letter Thursday that Murchin has said he will share his decision on Friday on whether to delay Trump’s sentencing date.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
About The Author
