Judge Merchan delays Trump sentencing until after election

Judge Juan Merchan has decided to delay the sentencing of former President Trump in the case of New York v. Trump until after the November presidential election.

Trump’s sentencing date is now scheduled for November 26, up from September 18.

“There should be no conviction in the Manhattan District Attorney’s witch hunt over election interference. As ordered by the United States Supreme Court, this case, along with all other Harris-Biden hoaxes, should be dismissed,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital.

Trump was found guilty in an unprecedented criminal trial on all 34 counts of first-degree falsification of corporate records after a six-week trial led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s research.

Judge Juan Merchan instructs the jury ahead of deliberations in the criminal trial of Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide money he paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. The trial is scheduled to take place in Manhattan District Court in New York City, U.S., on May 29, 2024. This sketch of the courtroom is seen. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)

Trump’s initial sentencing was scheduled for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention, where he would be formally nominated as the Republican presidential nominee in 2024. However, Judge Juan Merchan agreed to delay sentencing until September 18.

‘ELECTION INFRINGEMENT’: TRUMP’S LAWYERS MOVE FOR DELAY OF SENTENCE IN BRAGG CASE

Trump’s lawyers subsequently requested a delay in his sentencing until after the November presidential election, arguing that he had “unmitigated intent to influence the election.”

Trump has appealed the verdict, after pleading not guilty to all charges. Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said the verdict should be overturned based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 30, 2024, for his hush money trial. (Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images)

Blanche also pointed to Merchan’s daughter’s work at Authentic Campaigns, an organization that represents the major Democratic candidates.

TRUMP ASKS FEDERAL COURT TO TAKE OVER BRAGG CASE WEEKS BEFORE COURT TRIAL

In his arguments for dismissal, Blanche argued that Bragg introduced official documents into evidence during the unprecedented six-week criminal trial. Blanche said these included official White House communications with staffers such as Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout and others.

The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office, but not for unofficial acts. The Supreme Court said Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts,” but left it up to the lower court to determine where exactly the line is between official and unofficial.

Former President Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (Emily Elconin/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Trump last week asked a federal court to take over the New York criminal trial from the state, arguing that he has been the victim of “constitutional violations” in proceedings that run counter to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied that request, saying there was nothing in the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity that changed his position that private payments to a porn star were unrelated to the president’s official actions.

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He previously said that Trump’s repayments to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer who facilitated hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, were not official acts he took as president.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to the media after a jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying corporate records on Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP/Seth Wenig)

“My position on hush money remains true regardless of who bears the burden, the people or Mr. Trump,” Hellerstein wrote in his decision. “Nothing in the Supreme Court’s decision affects my earlier conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts outside the bounds of the executive branch.”