Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his criminal hush money case has been delayed after a Supreme Court ruling that he has broad immunity from prosecution.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money case, has postponed Trump’s sentencing from July 11 to September 18 in order to weigh whether the high court’s ruling could imperil the ex-president’s conviction.
The judge’s decision on Tuesday, a day after the immunity ruling, is a setback for the historic case that saw the first felony conviction of a former or current US president.
Trump was scheduled to be sentenced just four days before the Republican National Convention, in which he is expected to be officially nominated as the GOP’s candidate for president.
He faces a sentence ranging from probation to several weeks to up to four years in prison, after a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records around a $130,000 payment to silence a porn star on an alleged affair.
While Merchan agreed to postpone Trump’s sentencing hearing, he may not find a reason to overturn the jury’s verdict.
Trump’s lawyers shortly after the Supreme Court’s decision on Monday sought to file a motion to overturn the hush money verdict by July 10.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass wrote in a letter to Merchan: ‘Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion.’
The prosecutors requested a deadline of July 24 to file and serve a response, meaning that Trump’s sentencing would happen no sooner than the following day.
Merchan then wrote that the original sentencing date was adjourned to September 18 at 10am ‘for the imposition of sentence, if such is still necessary, or other proceedings’.
The Supreme Court’s ruling granting Trump broad immunity from prosecution for his acts while president does not apply to the hush money case which revolved around his actions during the 2016 presidential campaign.
However, Trump’s attorneys say that prosecutors used evidence from Trump’s presidency in arguing the case.
Trump called his sentencing delay development ‘TOTAL EXONERATION’.
‘It is clear that the Supreme Court’s Brilliantly Written and Historic Decision ENDS all of Crooked Joe Biden’s Witch Hunts against me, including the WHITE HOUSE AND DOJ INSPIRED CIVIL HOAXES in New York,’ he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He continued, ‘It must be understood, that I was Totally and Completely Innocent from the beginning of this Giant and Highly Illegal Scam, long before the Supreme Court’s Decision was released.
‘The impact of the Immunity Ruling is a loud and clear signal for Justice in the United States.’
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