The New York judge who presided over President-elect Trump’s criminal trial this spring denied his request to postpone Friday’s sentencing, setting up a last-minute appellate battle as he attempts to halt the proceedings.
Trump’s attorneys may still seek intervention from an appeals court, arguing that Judge Juan Merchan erred in rejecting Trump’s presidential immunity claims and upholding his hush money criminal conviction.
“This Court has considered Defendant’s arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past,” the judge wrote on Monday.
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep an alleged affair, which he denies, hidden ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Merchan, who oversees the trial proceedings, agreed to Trump’s request to postpone his sentencing until after the election. The judge rescheduled it for Friday after rejecting Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on his separate immunity claims as a former president and president-elect.
Though Merchan has stated that he is not inclined to impose any jail time or punishment, the trajectory would maintain Trump’s criminal conviction and make him the first felon to assume the presidency on Inauguration Day, which is only two weeks away.
Trump’s lawyers are attempting to prevent that scenario by requesting that the sentencing be stayed while they appeal Merchan’s recent rulings. Trump filed the first of two expected appeals on Monday afternoon.
“Justice Merchan is without authority under the law to proceed to sentencing while President Trump exercises his federal constitutional right to challenge these rulings, and the erroneous jury verdict in the underlying criminal case must be vacated and the charges against President Trump must be dismissed with prejudice, without further delay,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office pushed back, noting in court filings Monday that Trump had requested the delays and that wrapping up the case now with a sentencing that the president-elect would not have to attend in person would not jeopardize his presidency.
“There is no risk here of a ‘extended proceeding’ that impairs the discharge of defendant’s official duties — duties he does not possess before January 20, 2025 in any event,” they wrote.
Trump’s request for a delay comes with only days until he retakes the White House. Legal experts largely agree that, at the very least, the proceedings cannot continue after the inauguration.
