Donald Trump. File | Picture credit score: AP
Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush cash case has been postponed till at the least September after the decide agreed Tuesday to evaluate the potential affect of a brand new Supreme Court docket ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump was scheduled to look in court docket on July 11 in New York for his conviction on fees of falsifying enterprise information. The previous president denies any wrongdoing.
The postponement units the sentencing listening to for Sept. 18, nicely after the Republican Nationwide Conference, the place Trump is scheduled to formally settle for the celebration’s nomination for president on this yr’s contest. The conference is ready to be held July 15-18.
A Supreme Court docket ruling on Monday granted broad immunity protections to presidents whereas limiting prosecutors from citing any official acts as proof to attempt to show {that a} president’s unofficial actions violated the regulation.
Hours after it aired, Trump’s lawyer requested New York Choose Juan M. Merchan to put aside the jury’s responsible verdict and delay sentencing to contemplate how the excessive court docket’s ruling would possibly have an effect on the hush cash case.
He wrote that he would subject a ruling on September 6 and that the following date within the case can be September 18, “if vital.”
Manhattan prosecutors mentioned Tuesday they might not oppose suspending sentencing for at the least two weeks.
Of their submitting Monday, protection attorneys argued that Manhattan prosecutors had positioned “a extremely prejudicial emphasis on proof of official acts,” together with Trump’s social media posts and witness testimony about Oval Workplace conferences.
Prosecutors mentioned Tuesday they believed these arguments had been “with out benefit” however mentioned they didn’t oppose delaying sentencing whereas the decide considers the matter.
Trump was discovered responsible on Could 30 of 34 counts of falsifying enterprise information stemming from what prosecutors mentioned was an try to cowl up a $130,000 hush cost to porn actress Stormy Daniels simply earlier than the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, after assembly him at a celeb golf event in Lake Tahoe. Trump has repeatedly denied that declare, saying in his June 27 debate with President Joe Biden: “I didn’t have intercourse with a porn star.”
Prosecutors mentioned the cost to Daniels was a part of a broader scheme to purchase the silence of people that may need gone public in the course of the marketing campaign with embarrassing tales alleging that he had had extramarital intercourse. Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose agency recorded the reimbursements as authorized bills.
Falsifying enterprise information is punishable by as much as 4 years in jail. Different doable sentences embody probation, a tremendous or parole, which might require Trump to remain out of hassle to keep away from additional punishment. Trump is the primary former president convicted of a criminal offense.
Trump should be current at Merchán’s court docket in Manhattan when he’s sentenced.
The Trump marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
