Donald J. The judge overseeing Trump’s Manhattan criminal case plans to rule Friday on whether to delay Mr. Trump’s sentencing until after Election Day, court filings show.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked the judge — Judge Juan M. Merchan — who presided over the former president’s seven-week trial this spring — asked to delay the sentencing, which is scheduled for Sept. 18. Mr Trump, the first US president to become a felon, faces up to four years in prison, although Justice Merchan is likely to impose a shorter sentence or probation.
A request to postpone the sentence till after the elections Justice creates trouble for the merchantA veteran judge who has resisted many of Mr. Trump’s stalling tactics. If the judge goes ahead with the sentence this month, Mr. Trump will charge him with election meddling. But if he postpones it, Justice Merchan will undoubtedly face accusations that he has put Mr. Trump’s political considerations above the rule of law.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers requested the delay to give him more time to challenge his conviction on charges that he created false records to hide hush-money payments to the porn star in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump’s lawyers also argued that it was inappropriate for Mr. Trump to face punishment so close to the Nov. 5 election, in which he will face off against Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency.
On Thursday, Justice Murchan informed prosecutors and Mr Trump’s lawyers that he intended to rule on Friday. Prosecutors, in turn, disclosed the timing in a separate filing in federal court, where Mr. Trump tried but failed to move their case.
Justice Merchan has already rescheduled the sentence once. It was originally set for July 11, but Justice Murchan pushed it back as he weighed Mr. Trump’s bid to overturn his conviction, an effort that hinges on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to grant Mr. Trump broad immunity for official functions as president. Justice Merchan is scheduled to rule on the immunity issue on Sept. 16, two days before the sentencing, providing some runway for Mr. Trump to appeal, assuming the judge upholds the conviction.
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which brought the case, argued that the Supreme Court’s decision had no bearing on Mr. Trump’s convictions and that they stemmed from scandals unrelated to his White House duties. But they Judge adjourned on whether to delay his sentence on Election Day.
Mr. Trump has recently made other efforts to block his sentence. Last week, he demanded move his Manhattan case to federal courtCiting the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. But the judge Rejected Mr. Trump’s argument The case involved official acts as president, a decision Mr. Trump is appealing.
“Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” said a federal judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote in his opinion.
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