On Tuesday, attorneys for Donald Trump requested an emergency order from a judge in the New York appeals court to postpone the president-elect’s scheduled sentencing on Friday for the criminal charges related to the hush money case.
The lawyers were given a hearing early Tuesday afternoon after submitting their demand for an emergency stay to the state Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court.
During a hearing at the state Appellate Division, a mid-level appeals court, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche told Justice Ellen Gesmer, “There has never been a case like this.”
By virtue of his presidential immunity, Blanche contended, Trump “should not have to go through any legal process.”
The judge was asked to deny the request by Manhattan District Attorney Steven Wu.
“This is a claim that the president-elect is entitled to immunity, and there is no support for that,” he stated, adding that the “claim is so baseless that there is no basis for any kind of stay here.”
“There is one president at a time,” Wu stated.
Regarding Trump’s assertion that the proceedings would interfere with his transition as president, the court questioned the DA’s attorney.
Wu retorted that the virtual proceeding would probably take an hour or so.
A sentencing, Blanche said, is “a very big deal.”
According to Trump’s petition, in order to “avoid ongoing violations of the constitutional rights of President Trump and a threatened disruption of the Presidential transition, a process that directly concerns the United States of America’s national security and vital interests,” the appeals court must immediately grant a stay of any further criminal proceedings in the trial court.
They argue that Trump’s conviction in May of last year should be overturned on further presidential immunity grounds, and that he is already immune from punishment due to presidential immunity.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that month that established a new bar for presidential immunity, Judge Juan Merchan postponed Trump’s scheduled sentence.
Then, in a decision this month, Merchan discovered that Trump is not immune until he takes the oath of office. In a separate ruling last week, the court stated that he intends to grant Trump an unconditional discharge and ordered his sentencing on 34 felony counts of fabricating company documents to occur on Friday morning. In other words, he would not face any consequences, yet the conviction would remain valid.
On Monday, Merchan denied Trump’s plea for a delay.
In a court filing on Monday, prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated that there is no justification for further postponing the sentencing.
The DA’s office further argued that the timing of Trump’s sentencing is the least onerous.
He is not now performing any formal presidential duties that would be interfered with by the sentencing, and as president-elect, he “has no viable claim of presidential immunity from ordinary criminal process,” they wrote.
In May, Trump was found guilty of fabricating documents pertaining to hush money given to adult film star Stormy Daniels by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, during the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has refuted Daniels’ testimony that she had a sexual encounter with him in 2006.
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