Former President Donald Trump is seeking to push back sentencing in his criminal hush money case until after the 2024 presidential election, arguing that the current sentencing date of Sept. 18 advances what his attorneys call prosecutors’ “naked election-interference objectives.”
Judge Juan Merchan has already delayed sentencing once, at Trump’s request, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision on presidential immunity.
Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. Judge Merchan ruled last month that he would rule on Trump’s immunity claim on Sept. 16 and impose sentencing two days later.
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“That timing illustrates just how unreasonable it is to have the potential for only a single day between a decision on first-impression Presidential immunity issues and an unprecedented and unwarranted sentencing,” defense lawyers wrote in a letter to judge on Thursday.
Trump’s lawyers questioned whether sentencing should take place after the start of early voting, arguing that the timing harms the integrity of the proceedings.
“Finally, setting aside naked election-interference objectives, there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar. There is no basis for continuing to rush,” defense lawyers wrote.
Trump’s request for a delay comes one day after Merchan sharply criticized defense lawyers for raising “inaccurate and unsubstantiated claims” in their motion to have Merchan recused from the case based on an alleged conflict of interest involving his daughter and Vice President Kamala Harris. Merchan denied the motion.
Despite Merchan denying their recusal motion, Trump’s lawyers again raised their arguments about “conflicts and appearances of impropriety” in their letter urging a delayed sentencing.
Trump was convicted in May on all 34 counts of falsifying business records connected to a hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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