A Manhattan judge is delaying former president Donald Trump’s sentencing for his hush-money conviction until after the presidential election, a major legal victory for Trump before early voting gets underway.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled Friday that Trump’s sentencing will take place on November 26, three weeks after election day, ensuring that Trump will not be sentenced in any of his criminal cases leading up to the election.
In a letter to the prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys informing them of his decision to delay the sentencing hearing, Merchan argued that a post-election sentencing would eliminate any appearance of political bias.
“The Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution. Adjourning decision on the motion and sentencing, if such is required, should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to gave an advantage to, or create a disadvantage for, any political party and/or any candidate for any office,” Merchan wrote.
Trump’s sentencing was originally scheduled to take place in July ahead of the Republican National Convention, but it was pushed back to September 18 following the Supreme Court’s presidential-immunity ruling.
The Supreme Court’s ruling granted Trump immunity for official acts and added another layer of complication to his ongoing criminal proceedings. Some of the evidence Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s team of prosecutors used against Trump during the hush-money trial would have fit the definition of official presidential acts.
Earlier this year, Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with reimbursements for a $130,000 payment fixer Michael Cohen sent to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels alleges she and Trump had a sexual encounter in 2006, a claim Trump has repeatedly denied.
Trump routinely accuses Merchan and Bragg of election interference for carrying out the hush-money case against him. Democrats have sought to take advantage of Trump’s conviction on the campaign trail, and will likely claim Trump is being given special treatment because of his political stature.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s 2024 rival, has attempted to contrast her prosecutorial experience with Trump’s criminal conviction, pro-law enforcement messaging that represents a stark contrast from her support for defunding the police four years ago.
Merchan previously donated to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign and his daughter works for a Democratic consulting and marketing firm. Bragg is an elected Democrat who campaigned on going after Trump.
To prosecute the business-records case, Bragg relied on a novel legal theory to bypass the statute of limitations and raise the severity of the business-records offenses, arguing that the records were falsified to conceal an underlying crime. Cohen, Bragg’s star-witness, is a convicted felon and perjurer who became a prominent critic of his old boss.
At Trump Tower, the former president held a press conference this morning to address his attempt to overturn a verdict that found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll. He spent time during the press conference to criticize Bragg, Merchan, and the Justice Department for meddling with the 2024 election.
Trump’s attorneys have unsuccessfully attempted to get Merchan thrown off the Trump case for his apparent political bias and conflict of interest. They are also trying to have the case moved to federal court, and dismissed on presidential immunity grounds.
Outside of Manhattan, Trump is facing a fresh set of charges from special counsel Jack Smith for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Smith’s election-subversion case was upended by the Supreme Court’s ruling, and necessitated a superseding indictment with a slightly altered factual basis for the charges against Trump, who pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Merchan’s delay and the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling are part of a string of legal victories for Trump. South Florida judge Aileen Cannon threw out Smith’s classified-documents prosecution against Trump on Constitutional grounds.
Cannon ruled that Smith was unconstitutionally appointed, a significant setback for the case that dragged on because of lengthy pre-trial litigation. Smith is appealing Cannon’s ruling with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s full support.