In a court petition released on Monday, President-elect Donald Trump is requesting a delay of his Friday sentencing in the hush money case.
In the submission to New York State Judge Juan Merchandated on Sunday, Trump’s lawyers requested that the Court should revoke the sentence hearing set for January 10, 2025, and postpone all subsequent dates in the case until President Trump’s immunity challenges are concluded.
In a decision last week, Merchan rejected Trump’s attempt to have the case dismissed and mandated that his sentencing on 34 felony charges of fabricating business records take place this week, just in time for his inauguration.
According to Trump’s filing, he is entitled to a “automatic stay” and will appeal those rulings to the state Appellate Division later on Monday.
The appeal, which was submitted late Monday afternoon, requests a hearing date of January 27, one week following Trump’s inauguration.
A spokesman for Trump, Steven Cheung, described the anticipated sentencing as “unlawful.”
“The Supreme Court s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” he stated.
The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg pleaded with the judge to reject the motion. They pointed out that a final ruling would enable Trump to proceed with his appeals in the case, and they also pointed out that Trump insisted on the sentencing only now.
resulting “current schedule is entirely a function of defendant s repeated requests to adjourn a sentencing date that was originally set for July 11, 2024; he should not now be heard to complain of harm from delays he caused,” they stated.
Additionally, the DA said that now is “the least burdensome time” for Trump to get a punishment.
“Sentencing a sitting president while he is in office presents increased and even insurmountable challenges, as this Court has observed and the defendant has contended. The defendant has also strongly objected to being sentenced after his next tenure as president, according to the prosecutors.
“By contrast, sentencing on January 10 raises none of these concerns: defendant has no viable claim of presidential immunity from ordinary criminal process” as well “is not yet engaged in any official presidential functions that would be disrupted by the sentencing,” they wrote. They further stated that “it would be feasible to complete the sentencing proceeding in less than an hour.”
Merchan stated in his decision on Friday that he had no intention of imprisoning Trump and that he was more likely to grant him an unconditional discharge, which would leave him a guilty felon with no further penalties.
In May, Trump was found guilty of fabricating documents pertaining to a hush money payment made 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.
At Trump’s request, Merchan delayed the sentencing, which had been originally slated for July, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision earlier that month that established a new bar for presidential immunity.
Merchan concluded in two decisions over the last month that Trump’s conviction in the criminal case was unaffected by the Supreme Court’s decision.
In his judgment on Friday, the judge stated that Trump might attend in person or virtually for the sentence and requested that his lawyers notify him of the outcome by Sunday. It’s unclear if their filing is the response or if they responded.
Trump had chosen to make a virtual appearance, according to the DA’s filing on Monday, but it did not specify the source.
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