Trump Seeks to Halt His Criminal Sentencing in New York
The New York Times
A Manhattan judge has already indicated that he will spare Donald J. Trump from jail time, but the president-elect is seeking to avoid the symbolic blow of the criminal proceeding.
President-elect Donald J. Trump has signaled that he plans to mount a full-scale legal offensive to stave off his criminal sentencing in New York, seeking a last-minute reprieve before becoming the first president who is a convicted felon.
With the sentencing scheduled for Friday, just 10 days before the presidential inauguration, Mr. Trump’s lawyers have implored the judge overseeing his case to postpone the proceeding, according to a court filing unsealed on Monday.
Although that request is most likely doomed — the judge, Juan M. Merchan, was the one who scheduled the sentencing — Mr. Trump’s lawyers disclosed in the filing that they planned to escalate their effort. If the judge does not pause the sentencing by 2 p.m. on Monday, the filing said, Mr. Trump will “seek an emergency appellate review.”
Hoping to persuade a New York appeals court to intervene, Mr. Trump’s lawyers plan to file a civil action against Justice Merchan and seek to freeze the sentencing, according to the filing. It is unclear when they will file that action with the appellate court, but it could come as soon as Monday.
Even though Justice Merchan has signaled that he will spare the former and future president any substantive punishment, Mr. Trump is scrambling to avoid the symbolic blow of sentencing. Once Mr. Trump is sentenced for the 34-count conviction, he will formally become a felon.
In the filing to Justice Merchan unsealed on Monday, Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that the sentencing would also become a distraction from his presidential duties.
