Donald Trump’s Sentencing In Hush Money Case Pushed Back Until After November Election
A New York judge has moved the sentencing in Donald Trump’s hush money trial to after the election, on November 26.
“The public’s confidence in the integrity of our judicial system demands a sentencing hearing that is entirely focused on the verdict of the jury and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors free from distraction and distortion,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote in a statement filed today.
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“The members of this jury served diligently on this case, and their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election. Likewise, if one is necessary, the Defendant has the right to a sentencing hearing that respects and protects his constitutional rights.”
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 state counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels in advance of the 2016 election. The judge initially set sentencing for July, but then pushed that date back to Sept. 18 as Trump’s legal team challenged the conviction based on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
Merchan has not ruled on how the immunity decision impacts Trump’s conviction, if at all, and indicated that such a ruling would not come until Nov. 12. The Supreme Court ruled in June that presidents were immune from criminal prosecution for acts that take that are part of their official duties. The hush money payments were made before Trump was elected, but aspects of the trial delved into his conduct once he took office.
Trump’s legal team had sought the delay, arguing that it was needed to avoid the “politically prejudicial” impact on the election.
“The court is a fair, impartial and apolitical institution,” the judge wrote, adding that the delay “should dispel any suggestion that the court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party, and/or any candidate for any office.”
Trump has claimed that the conviction was rigged, and blasted the judge throughout the trial.
Before the delay was announced, Trump was at a New York federal court this morning as his attorneys argued that he should get a new trial in a civil case brought by writer E. Jean Carroll. Last year, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll during an encounter at a department store in the mid-1990s, and also found that he defamed her. Earlier this year, a jury added an additional $83.3 million in damages to the earlier verdict that awarded Carroll $5 million.
After the hearing, Trump held a press conference at Trump tower, where he again blasted Carroll and the judgment, but he also criticized his attorneys, standing aside him, for the way that they argued the appeal.
The jury’s verdict in the hush money case was the first time that a former president has been convicted of a crime.
More to come.
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