Judge rejects Trump’s request to postpone sentence for maintaining silence

President-elect Donald Trump was thwarted in his attempt to indefinitely postpone this week’s sentencing in his hush money case while he appeals a ruling that upheld the verdict and put him on track to become the first president to take office convicted of crimes.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchán ordered Friday’s sentencing to proceed as scheduled, rejecting arguments by Trump’s lawyers who said it should be stayed while they ask a state appeals court to overturn its decision to uphold the sentence. .

Trump can still ask the appeals court to intervene and order a suspension or pause. Otherwise, he will be sentenced just over a week before he takes up a second term.

Trump’s lawyers have told Merchan that if he is sentenced, he will appear by video rather than in person.

The judge had given him the option given the demands of the presidential transition process.

Merchan denied Trump’s attempt to overturn the verdict due to his impending return to the White House last Friday, but said he is not likely to sentence the Republican to any punishment for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “it would be the end of the presidency as we know it” if he is allowed to remain standing.

Trump’s lawyers, who are also challenging Merchan’s earlier refusal to dismiss the case on presidential immunity grounds, filed appeal papers Monday afternoon in the state trial court’s appellate division. No arguments have been programmed.

They did not ask the court to suspend Trump’s sentence.

Furthermore, they argued to Mr Merchan that the appeal should trigger an automatic stay of the proceedings and, if not, that he should step in and do it himself, an idea he rejected.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office had urged Merchan to proceed as planned, “given the strong public interest in a speedy prosecution and the finality of criminal proceedings.”

Prosecutors blamed Trump for pushing his sentence to the brink of his second term by repeatedly trying to postpone his sentencing, which was originally scheduled for July.

“You should not now be heard complaining about the damages caused by the delays you caused,” they wrote in a court filing Monday afternoon.

A Trump spokesman, Steven Cheung, said: “Today, President Trump’s legal team took action to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan District Attorney’s witch hunt.

“The Supreme Court’s landmark immunity decision, the New York State Constitution, and other established legal precedents demand that this baseless hoax be dismissed immediately.”

Any delay in sentencing could run out time to close the case before Trump’s second term begins on January 20.

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice and guidance to federal agencies, has held that a sitting president has immunity from criminal prosecution.

If the sentence is not handed down before Trump is sworn in, waiting until he leaves office in 2029 “may become the only viable option,” Merchan said in his ruling.

If the sentence is handed down as scheduled Friday, Trump’s lawyers argued, he will appeal the verdict while in office and will be “forced to deal with criminal proceedings for years to come.”

They raised an unlikely scenario in which, if Trump wins his appeal, he could face another criminal trial while in office.

In upholding the verdict and rejecting Trump’s dismissal requests, Merchan wrote that the interests of justice would only be served by “giving finality to this matter” through sentencing.

He said sentencing Trump to what is known as unconditional release — closing the case without jail time, a fine or probation — “seems to be the most viable solution.”

However, Trump’s lawyers remained unmoved, arguing that the “baseless case” was fueled by “numerous legal errors,” including rulings by Merchan that they said contradicted the US Supreme Court’s decision last July. which granted presidents broad immunity from prosecution. .

“The Court’s non-binding preview of its current thinking regarding a hypothetical sentence does not mitigate these fundamental federal constitutional violations,” wrote defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove.

Trump has tapped both lawyers for senior positions in the Justice Department.

Whenever he is sentenced, Trump will have the opportunity to speak, as will his lawyers and prosecutors.

You can only appeal against the verdict after you have been sentenced.

The charges involved an alleged scheme to conceal a money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign to prevent her from going public with claims that she had had sexual relations with him years earlier. .

He says his story is false and that he did nothing wrong.

The case centered on how Trump explained the refund to his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen, who had made the payment to Daniels.

The conviction carried the possibility of receiving penalties ranging from a fine or probation to four years in prison.

Cohen, a key prosecution witness who had previously called for Trump to be jailed, said that “based on all the intervening circumstances,” Merchan’s decision to sentence Trump without punishment “is both judicious and appropriate.”

Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for July 11, but was later postponed twice at the defense’s request.

After his election victory on November 5, the judge again delayed the sentence so that the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.