Attorneys for Donald Trump asked the judge overseeing the former president’s Manhattan criminal case to postpone his Sept. 18 sentencing until after November’s presidential election, Politico reports. Trump’s lawyers noted that the sentencing for the Republican presidential nominee’s conviction on falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star is scheduled to take place after the start of early voting. They argued that the sentencing should be delayed to allow Trump to weigh appellate options in response to Justice Juan Merchan’s expected ruling on whether Trump's conviction should be tossed in light of the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling on presidential immunity.
Merchan is set to rule on Sept. 16, two days before the scheduled sentencing, on whether the presidential immunity decision should have an impact on Trump’s conviction. If Merchan rejects Trump’s bid to overturn the conviction on immunity grounds, the judge should not proceed to sentencing until higher courts can review that ruling, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote. “[S]etting aside naked election-interference objectives,” they wrote, “there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar.” Trump’s lawyers bid is likely a long shot. Merchan already delayed the sentencing from July to September to weigh the immunity ruling, and noted in a recent filing that the Sept. 18 sentencing date “remains unchanged.”
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