“Judge postpones Trump’s hush money sentencing until after the election”

On Friday, a New York judge postponed the sentencing of former U.S. President Donald Trump in his hush money criminal case until after the Nov. 5 election. The judge stated that he wished to prevent the unwarranted perception of a political motive.

Trump, the Republican candidate for president, was previously scheduled to be sentenced on September 18. In August, his attorneys requested that Justice Juan Merchan postpone his sentencing until after the voting, citing “naked election-interference objectives.” Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney who filed the charges against Trump, is a Democrat.

On Friday, Merchan announced that he intended to sentence Trump on November 26, barring a dismissal of the case prior to that date.

“The imposition of sentence will be adjourned to avoid any appearance – however unwarranted – that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate,” the judge wrote, which opens a new tab. “The Court is a fair, impartial and apolitical institution.”

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump expressed his gratitude for Merchan’s observation that the sentencing would only occur if the judge denies a pending petition by his lawyers to overturn the jury’s verdict.

“This case should be rightfully terminated, as we prepare for the Most Important Election in the History of our Country,” the president wrote.

Trump was convicted on May 30 of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal his then-lawyer’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election regarding a sexual encounter she alleges she had with Trump a decade prior. This was the first-ever criminal trial of a former or current U.S. president.

Trump has denied the encounter and has pledged to appeal the verdict upon his sentencing.

According to a spokesperson for Bragg, “The Manhattan D.A.’s Office is prepared for the sentencing on the new date established by the court.”

‘THREADED THE NEEDLE’

Merchan wrote in his four-page judgment that he would rule on Trump’s request to overturn the conviction in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s groundbreaking decision on presidential immunity on Nov. 12.

He had previously intended to assume the presidency on September 16.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision, which was related to a separate criminal case that Trump is currently facing, determined that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for their official acts and that evidence of presidents’ official actions cannot be used to help establish criminal cases involving unofficial actions.

prosecutors from Bragg’s office contended that their case was based on Trump’s personal conduct, rather than his official actions, and therefore, there was no justification for the verdict to be reversed.

However, they stated in an August 16 filing that they deferred to Merchan on the matter and did not take a stance on Trump’s request to postpone sentencing. The prosecutors stated that an appellate court could prolong the sentencing in order to allow itself time to evaluate Trump’s arguments, a decision they deemed “disruptive.”

George Grasso, a retired New York state judge who attended Trump’s trial, suggested that Bragg may have been aware of Trump’s frequently repeated assertion of election interference in his decision to not advocate for a sentencing date before the election.

“He’s probably appropriately sensitive to opening himself up to charges from Trump and Trump supporters that he’s being too political,” Grasso indicated. “He threaded the needle.”

Falsifying business records is punishable by a maximum of four years in prison; however, fines or probation are more prevalent.

Trump has the potential to instruct the Department of Justice to dismiss federal election interference charges against him if he is elected to the presidency. He would be unable to conclude the New York state case or an election interference case in Georgia.