Donald Trump, who faces up to 4 years in prison after being convicted of 34 felonies, will not be sentenced until after the November election, New York Judge Juan Merchan announced Friday.
Trump was initially slated to be sentenced in July after a jury unanimously found him guilty of fraud for covering up a hush payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Daniels has said she had an affair with Trump just weeks after his wife, Melania, had given birth, an allegation that Trump denies.
But the decision by the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority to grant Trump absolute immunity for “official acts” as president has complicated his New York case, Merchan admitted in his order Friday, granting the former president’s request to adjourn the case and delay sentencing as he seeks to overturn his conviction. Trump’s defense team argues that prosecutors secured that conviction by introducing evidence from the Republican candidate’s time in the White House, which it insists should be off limits in the wake of the high court’s immunity ruling.
“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 or distortion,” Merchan wrote, noting that a delay in sentencing would also help the court avoid the appearance of trying to impact the 2024 election.
“Unfortunately,” he continued, “we are now at a place in time that is fraught with complexities rendering the requirements of a sentencing hearing, should one be necessary, difficult to execute.”