Trump's NY hush money sentencing delayed until after November election
Doinald Trump's sentencing has been rescheduled for Nov. 26. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
New York—A judge on Friday delayed Donald Trump’s hush money sentencing until after the November election, which means voters will cast ballots without knowing whether the Republican nominee could face jail time for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors did not object to a request from Trump’s attorneys to delay the sentencing, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan said it will instead happen on Nov. 26.
Trump was found guilty in May of trying to cover up the nature of a $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, made weeks before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump a decade earlier. A Manhattan jury found that Trump broke the law when he schemed to misclassify his reimbursements for the payment as routine legal fees in an effort to hide the information from the public.
Trump faces up to four years in prison, but as a first-time offender he could receive a sentence that does not involve incarceration.
He is seeking to toss the guilty verdict altogether, based in part on a July 1 Supreme Court decision giving presidents broad protection for conduct carried out while in office. The case is one of four criminal indictments brought against Trump as he makes his third run for the White House.
While the Supreme Court immunity ruling stemmed from defense claims in Trump’s federal election obstruction case in D.C., his lawyers were quick to argue that it also applied to his case in New York state court. They said the decision meant some evidence should have been excluded from the trial and from the grand jury presentation.
Trump’s legal team has said it will also appeal the conviction on more traditional grounds, calling the verdict the result of flawed testimony from a chronic liar recruited by an overly zealous prosecutor. There is generally a high bar for overturning any jury’s findings.
