Manhattan prosecutors in a new letter said “there is no basis” to delay former President Trump’s upcoming criminal sentencing over his effort to move the case to federal court, now that a judge has swiftly rejected the gambit.
District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Tuesday rejected Trump’s second attempt to move courts.
Trump is hoping to leverage the strategy to delay his Sept. 18 sentencing, but prosecutors have voiced opposition. After Hellerstein’s order, they wrote the new letter to reinforce their position to Juan Merchan, the New York state judge who will oversee the sentencing.
“Because there is no pending notice of removal with the federal court, there is no basis for the relief sought in defendant’s August 29 letter-motion,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo wrote in the brief letter, which was made public Wednesday.
Trump has begun to appeal the rejection to move courts, but it remains unclear if the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will step in before the historic sentencing, now just two weeks away.
In May, a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to hush money deals during his 2016 campaign.
At the onset of the case, the former president attempted to move his hush money case to federal court. A judge rejected the effort, and Trump later abandoned his appeal.
Trump’s lawyers are now making a second attempt, latching onto the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling that carved out broad protections for former presidents’ official acts.
"Nothing in the Supreme Court's opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority,” Hellerstein wrote in his Tuesday ruling rejecting Trump’s gambit a second time.
The former president has claimed the landmark Supreme Court decision means his guilty verdict must be wiped, insisting the Manhattan district attorney’s office improperly brought in immunized conduct as trial evidence. Prosecutors have dismissed Trump’s arguments.
Merchan, the state judge, is set to rule as to whether the verdict can stand on Sept. 16, just two days before the sentencing.
Though prosecutors have insisted Trump's attempt to move courts does not merit a delay, they have expressed openness to a postponement on other grounds to avoid the chaos of Trump mounting last-minute immunity appeals in the hours before his sentencing.
Merchan could announce whether he will delay the schedule as soon as this week.
