'More than meets the eye' in new ruling from Trump's hush money judge: MSNBC legal expert

Moments after New York State Judge Juan Merchan postponed President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing hearing on felony fraud convictions, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin argued it contained key information.

Sitting down with host Ana Cabrera on Friday, Rubin explained a deep read of the filing revealed some clues where the case might be going.

"What is your read on this new motion or filing from the judge? " the MSNBC host asked.

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"A couple of interesting things about it," Rubin began. "It is obviously only one page, so not much to read into it, but a close read of it shows that there is more than meets the eye here."

Rubin noted there was a key phrase in the document.

"First of all, in calling off the sentencing, Judge Merchan — I'm reading from my phone because this is so new — that he's ordering that the application for a stay of sentencing is granted and here's the key phrase : 'To the extent that the Nov. 26, '24 date is adjourned.' And then he talks about the briefing for the motion to dismiss, saying he'll take a brief from them on Dec. 2nd and opposition from the D.A.'s office on Dec. 9th."

Rubin then offered an explanation.

"That's the date they proposed to oppose it, what [Trump attorney] Todd Blanche wanted was to put in his opening brief on December 20th," she elaborated. "When you and I were talking about this earlier in the week, I noted to you if that were the deadline, this briefing would likely go into a period of time where former president Trump and President-elect Trump becomes sitting President Trump. That is unlikely to happen now because what he is saying is 'I will accept no reply briefs,' meaning the briefing will be done in its entirety by December 9th and I'm expecting to make some form of decision on this motion to dismiss, probably before the holidays if I had to read the tea leaves here from Judge Merchan."

"So again, staying the sentencing only with respect to that existing sentencing date, he's not indefinitely staying. He's just saying I'm calling off the sentencing that was scheduled for next week, and I'll take a briefing, but not on the timeline that you Trump lawyers want."

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