THE sentencing date of President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money conviction has been suspended, according to reports.
The stunning move comes as Judge Juan Merchan is expected to rule whether to uphold or dismiss Trump’s conviction of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records.
The president-elect’s sentencing, which was scheduled to take place on November 26, was suddenly called off without explanation on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is facing a Tuesday deadline to file paperwork outlining what he believes should follow in Trump’s case following his presidential election victory.
Judge Merchan is expected to rule whether to proceed to the sentencing stage, delay the sentencing until Trump is out of the White House, or outright toss the conviction, Bloomberg reported.
Trump, who crushed Vice President Kamala Harris on Election Day to scale to a second White House term, has vigorously denied any wrongdoing, calling his conviction “rigged and a disgrace.”
Judge Merchan’s impending decision stems from the Supreme Court’s controversial immunity ruling in July, which ruled former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts or things they do as part of their job as president.
Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial in April, was initially poised to rule last week on whether the Supreme Court’s decision prevented the sentencing from moving forward.
However, he delayed his decision by a week, giving prosecutors and Trump’s defense team more time to explain their arguments and what the next steps should be.
The Supreme Court’s ruling prohibits prosecutors from using evidence of official acts in trying to prove that purely personal conduct violated the law.
A jury in Manhattan convicted Trump on May 30 of 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records to boost his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election.
Although, at the time, Trump was a private citizen when he made a $130,000 payment to silence pornstar Stormy Daniels about their alleged affair, his defense argues that evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial goes against the Supreme Court‘s ruling.
The defense attorneys argued that the testimony of former White House communications director Hope Hicks and her conversation with then-President Trump about his hush money payments impaired the jury’s understanding of the case.
Hicks would routinely be in meetings with Trump, his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen, and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker.
She testified how Trump’s orbit at the time was focused on the 2016 election.
Hicks told jurors that Trump claimed he did not know anything about Cohen paying $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from going public with the affair allegations.
But, Hicks said Trump eventually said he preferred the story come out after the election, suggesting he was aware the allegations by Daniels could impact his chances at winning the 2016 presidential election.
The defense also raised the issue of prosecutors using Trump’s social media posts about Cohen while he was president in the trial.
However, prosecutors disputed the defense’s claims, saying their case centers on “entirely personal conduct” and not on actions he made during his time as president.
“The evidence that he claims is affected by the Supreme Court’s ruling constitutes only a sliver of the mountains of testimony and documentary proof that the jury considered in finding him guilty of all 34 felony charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecutors said.
In the days following his dominant Election Day victory, President-elect Donald Trump has begun carving out his future administation.
Here’s a list of Trump’s confirmed cabinet picks:
Moments after his May 30 conviction, Trump fiercely proclaimed that the “real verdict” would be on November 5 by “the people.”
Trump, who will be inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on January 20, 2025, was hit with a slew of indictments during his presidential campaign.
The president-elect was first indicted in New York in March 2023 and eventually found guilty in May.
A cascade of indictments followed, including from Georgia, Washington DC, and Florida prosecutors.
In June 2023, a federal grand jury in Miami indicted Trump for taking classified defense documents from the White House after leaving office in January 2021.
Prosecutors accused Trump of resisting the government’s efforts to try to recover the documents.
However, a US district judge dismissed the case on July 15, ruling that the appointment of Special Council Jack Smith violated the Constitution.
In August 2023, the Department of Justice indicted Trump over the events linked to the January 6 insurrection and organizing false slates of electors.
But, following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Smith filed a superseding indictment to slim down the allegations against Trump in light of the higher court’s immunity decision.
The special counsel accused Trump of illegally obstructing the certification proceeding.
After the Election Day results, Smith asked a federal court to pause his appeal of Trump’s classified case until December 2, citing his decision to review the “unprecedented circumstances” from the election and impending presidential inauguration.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all four counts.
Also, in August 2023, an Atlanta grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others on charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The Georgia case has been indefinitely paused as a judge rules on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from prosecuting the case.
Trump’s defense team argued Willis should be disqualified from the case because of her romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she hired to help handle the case.
The president-elect has pleaded not guilty on all counts.
