Judge delays Trump’s New York sentencing until closer to US election
Al Jazeera
Trump became the first former US president convicted of felony charges and was originally set to be sentenced next week.
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money case has granted a request to delay the former United States president’s sentencing until at least September.
The decision on Tuesday follows a ruling by the US Supreme Court that ordered broad criminal immunity for presidents in their official acts.
Trump’s legal team had cited the top court’s decision in a letter to Judge Juan Merchan requesting the delay in the sentencing, which was originally scheduled on July 11.
The lawyers representing Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, told Merchan they needed time to build their case that Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments made to an adult actress should be overturned in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Before Merchan’s decision, prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office said Trump’s argument was “without merit” but agreed to delay the sentencing.
