In a major relief for former President Donald Trump, sentencing on his hush money convictions was postponed on Tuesday until at least September – if it ever happens – as the judge agreed to evaluate the possible impact of a new Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump was scheduled to face sentencing on July 11, just before the Republican nominating convention, for his convictions in New York on criminal charges of falsifying business records. He denies any wrongdoing.
The postponement sets the sentencing for September 18 at the earliest – if that happens at all, as Trump’s lawyers argue that the Supreme Court’s decision merits not only delaying the sentencing but also overturning his conviction.
“The impact of the immunity ruling is a loud and clear signal for justice in America,” Trump crowed on his social media site Truth after the sentencing was delayed.
Using all capital letters, he claimed that the Supreme Court’s decision earned him “complete exoneration” in this and other criminal cases he faces.
There was no immediate comment on the postponement of sentencing from Manhattan prosecutors, who opened the silence case.
While the September 18 date is well after this month’s Republican National Convention, where Trump is expected to formally accept the party’s nomination for president in this year’s race, it is much closer to Election Day, which could put the issue at the forefront. from the list. for voters just as they seriously tune into the race. Due to absentee voting deadlines in certain states, some voters may have already voted before anyone knows whether the former president will have to spend time in prison or home confinement.
The postponement caps a series of political and legal victories for Trump in recent days, including a Supreme Court immunity ruling and a debate Widely seen as a disaster for Democratic President Joe Biden.
The immunity ruling virtually closed the door on the possibility that Trump could face trial in his 2020 election interference case in Washington before this November’s vote. The schedule itself is a victory for the former president, who sought to postpone the vote on his four criminal cases.
One appeals court recently paused a separate election interference case against Trump in Georgia; no trial date has been set. His confidential federal documents case in Florida remains mired in pretrial disputes that have resulted in the indefinite cancellation of the trial date.
Monday’s Supreme Court ruling granted broad immunity protections to presidents while restricting prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in an attempt to prove that a president’s unofficial actions violated the law.
The high court held that former presidents are absolutely immune from prosecution for actions that fall within their fundamental constitutional duties, such as interacting with the Department of Justice, and at least presumptively immune from all other official acts. The judges left intact the old principle that there is no immunity for purely personal acts.
It’s unclear how the ruling will affect the New York silence case.
Its pleas involved allegations that Trump, before his presidency, participated in a scheme to suppress sexual stories that he feared would be damaging to his 2016 campaign. But the real allegations had to do with payments made in 2017 to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who shelled out hush money on Trump’s behalf. Trump was president when he wrote relevant checks to Cohen.
Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully before the trial to conceal certain evidence that they said concerned official acts, including social media posts he made as president.
Merchan said in April that it would be “difficult to convince me that something he voluntarily tweeted to millions of people cannot be used in court when it is not being presented as a crime. It’s just being used as an act, something he did.”
When Trump unsuccessfully fought last year to have the hush money case transferred from state court to federal court, US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected former president’s claim that the allegations in the silence charge involved official duties.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely personal matter for the president — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Hellerstein wrote last year.
Hours after Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, Trump’s lawyer Requested that New York Judge Juan M. Merchan overturned the jury’s guilty verdict and postponed sentencing to consider how the high court’s decision might affect the silence case.
Merchan wrote that he will govern on September 6, and the next date in the case would be September 18, “if it is still necessary.”
In Monday’s defense filing, Trump’s lawyers argued that Manhattan prosecutors placed “highly prejudicial emphasis on evidence of official acts,” including Trump’s social media posts and witness testimony about meetings in the Oval Office.
Prosecutors responded that they believed these arguments were “meritless” but that they would not oppose delaying sentencing for two weeks while the judge considers the matter.
Trump was convicted on May 30 of 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a secret $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Trump has repeatedly denied that claim, saying in his June 27 debate with Biden, “I did not have sex with a porn star.”
Prosecutors said Daniels’ payment was part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have publicly aired embarrassing stories during the campaign alleging that Trump had extramarital sex. Trump said they were all fake.
Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company recorded the reimbursements as legal expenses.
Trump’s defense argued that the payments were in fact for legal work and were therefore categorized correctly.
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge, which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first former president convicted of a crime.
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Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak in Fort Pierce, Fla., Jill Colvin in New York and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.
