New York judge calls off next week’s Trump sentencing in hush money case

NEW YORK – The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money case has given his lawyers until a few days after Thanksgiving to argue that his conviction should be thrown out because he was elected again as president, and he officially called off Trump’s sentencing that was scheduled for next week.

It remained unclear whether New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan would sentence Trump for his 34 felony convictions before the president-elect takes office Jan. 20, but the schedule that was ordered Friday potentially leaves room for it. The judge’s one-page order canceled next week’s proceeding but did not schedule a new one or reference the possibility of a new date.

Merchan is allowing Trump’s lawyers to make a new set of immunity-related arguments related to his conviction in May for falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult-film actress ahead of the 2016 election. Those arguments will focus on whether further proceedings, including a sentencing, would interfere with Trump’s ongoing presidential transition and his presidency.

Merchan gave Trump’s attorneys until Dec. 2 to file a formal motion to dismiss, telling prosecutors to reply by Dec. 9. The judge may take weeks or longer to reach a decision, but he did not give himself a deadline.

Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump, called Merchan’s ruling a “decisive win.” Trump, who was president from 2017 to 2021, has been announcing future nominations and appointments for a second term and meeting with officials since his Nov. 5 election win.

Trump’s lawyers submitted their latest request in a letter to Merchan this week. Trump’s election, they argued, means he should not be dealing with court proceedings while setting up his administration.

“Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in a letter filed Tuesday seeking permission to file the arguments by Dec. 20 – a month before Trump is sworn in.

The schedule proposed by the defense would have left little or no room to potentially hold a sentencing before Trump’s term begins.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office suggested a much speedier timeline for the upcoming round of motions and replies, asking that Trump file his request promptly and that prosecutors be allowed to respond by Dec. 9, the date Merchan granted.

Merchan adopted a schedule closer to the speedier one proposed by Bragg’s trial team, leaving it unclear whether sentencing would happen before Jan. 20. It is also unclear whether the judge would sentence Trump given the change in circumstances.

Some legal experts have said that a higher court would probably block a sentencing if Merchan were to order one between now and Trump’s inauguration.

The sentencing was originally scheduled for July, but Trump’s lawyers won two delays because of a July 1 Supreme Court ruling that significantly broadened presidential immunity. While Trump’s conduct in falsifying the business records was not part of his official presidential duties, some of the evidence used during the grand jury proceedings and the trial did involve White House staff members and actions he took while president.

Trump, the first former president ever charged with crimes, faces up to four years in prison, but he could also avoid incarceration based on his lack of a prior criminal record, his status as president-elect, his age and the security concerns involved with jailing someone under Secret Service protection.

Bragg’s office this week signaled openness to postponing the sentencing four years, until Trump’s term is completed.

Constitutional law expert Robert McWhirter said Merchan could be leaning that way or he could set a sentencing date in the next two months where a punishment would be imposed but not enforced until Trump is out of office.

“This kind of indicates that the judge is thinking of suspending the sentencing hearing and doing it four years from now,” McWhirter said.

Trump’s team may appeal the new schedule on the basis that there isn’t adequate time to make its case, and delays have worked in Trump’s favor, McWhirter said.

“It’s been a long game but it was the only game Donald Trump had because the evidence was terrible for him and a jury of his peers beyond a reasonable doubt found that to be true,” McWhirter said.

Trump was also charged in three other cases, including two filed in federal courts. One indictment – for allegedly hoarding classified records at his Florida home and private club and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them – was dismissed by the trial judge, though special counsel Jack Smith is appealing that decision. The other federal indictment is for alleged election interference related to Trump’s efforts to block Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Smith has signaled he will be winding down both cases, which according to long-standing Justice Department policy cannot proceed after Trump takes office.

Separately, Trump was indicted in state court in Georgia with a number of his allies related to efforts to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 election in the state. That case has faced extensive delays, and no trial is on the horizon.

Once Trump’s team files its motion in New York asking to toss the case and the guilty verdict, prosecutors would respond before Merchan issues his ruling.