The ink barely dried on the Supreme Court's immunity ruling before Donald Trump's lawyers filed papers to compel New York Judge Juan Merchan to sideline his hush money trial guilty verdict and push back his sentencing.
And he did.
Merchan scratched the July 11 date in favor of a new date, Sept. 18, “if such is still necessary.”
Trump’s attorneys convinced Merchan to consider that Manhattan prosecutors had placed “highly prejudicial emphasis on official-acts evidence,” that leaned on Trump’s tweets and witness testimony about Oval Office meetings (likely speaking to his senior aide Hope Hicks' tearful testimony).
Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig found the seminal 6-3 decision by the high court to be manna for the MAGA leader's legal plight.
"This thing is a disaster for prosecutors," he said on CNN's "The Source."
Read also: Trump's immunity win will 'backfire' on him in November: CNN analyst
He didn't have to name the players prosecuting Trump and others being tested after the ruling, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, and Fulton County DA Fani Willis; not to mention state judges like Merchan and Fulton County Superior Court Scott McAfee overseeing the Georgia RICO election interference case.
It also includes federal judges such as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon overseeing the confidential documents case in Florida, and Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the federal election subversion case in Washington D.C.
The decision grants presidents astonishing powers without legal reprisal if they are considered core official acts. Private acts are fair game.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor blamed the court for playing kingmaker.
"The president is now a king above the law," reads her dissent.
Honig marveled: "This opinion is a godsend from heaven for Donald Trump."
It's especially favorable because of the lack of specifics that define what exactly defines an "official act."
"The way that the Supreme Court defines 'official act' is astonishingly broad," said Honig. "...It's also so vague that it's going to be almost impossible for Judge Merchan for Judge Chutkan to apply it."
Watch the clip below or at this link.
