President-elect Donald Trump tries again to get Friday’s sentencing over hush money overturned

NEW YORK- President-elect Donald Trump On Tuesday he tried again to delay this week’s sentencing in his money case to keep his secret, asking a New York appeals court to intervene as he fights to prevent his conviction from becoming final before returning to the White House.

Trump appealed to the Appellate Division of the state’s lower court a day after the trial judge, Judge Juan M. Merchan, rejected his attempt to indefinitely postpone sentencing and ordered him go ahead as planned on Friday.

Trump seeks an immediate suspension that would prevent him from being sentenced while he appeals Merchan’s decision last week to confirm the historic verdict. Oral arguments before a single judge were expected later on Tuesday, and a decision would likely be made soon after.

The programming drama unfolds less than two weeks before his inauguration. Trump is about to become the first president to take office convicted of crimes. If Trump’s sentencing does not come before his second term begins on January 20, he may have to wait until he leaves office in 2029 due to the widespread belief, backed by Merchan, that a sitting president is immune from criminal proceedings.

Merchan has signaled that he is not likely to punish Trump for his conviction in 34 felonies for falsifying business records and will accommodate his transition by allowing him to appear for sentencing by video, rather than in person in a Manhattan courtroom.

Still, the Republican and his lawyers maintain that his sentence should not go forward because the conviction and accusation should be dismissed. They had previously suggested taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court.

Merchan “has no authority under the law to proceed with sentencing while President Trump exercises his federal constitutional right to challenge these rulings,” Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a filing with the Appellate Division.

Last Friday, Merchan denied Trump’s attempt to overturn his conviction and dismiss the case due to his imminent return to the White House. He previously refused to drop the case. presidential immunity grounds. Trump’s lawyers are challenging both rulings.

Merchan wrote that the interests of justice would only be served by “giving finality to this matter” through sentencing. He said giving Trump what is known as an unconditional release — closing the case without jail time, a fine or probation — “seems to be the most viable solution.”

Manhattan prosecutors have pushed for the sentencing to proceed as planned, “given the strong public interest in a speedy prosecution and the finality of criminal proceedings.”

The charges involved an alleged scheme to conceal a silent money payment to porn actor 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 justified reimbursing 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.

Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for July 11, then postponed twice at the request of the defense. After Trump’s November 5 election, Merchan delayed the sentence again so the defense and the prosecution could have an opinion on the future of the case.