Donald Trump, the embattled president elect of the United States is requesting that the court postpones the judgement for his New York hush money case till after his inauguration.
Trump’s court case is scheduled for sentencing on Friday but the 78 year old is appealing the conviction.
However, the Manhattan district attorney’s office is urging Judge Juan Merchan to stick by his plan.
Trump’s lawyers wrote in a Monday filing that they were seeking to appeal Merchan’s two recent rulings rejecting Trump’s attempts to toss his conviction, while demanding a stay of Friday’s sentencing due to their appeal, CNN reports.
On Friday, Merchan rejected Trump’s attempt to throw out his conviction because he’s been elected president, scheduling Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case for Friday – though Merchan made clear he would not sentence him to any jail time.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the sentencing must be put on hold while his appeals play out. They asked the judge for a Monday response to their request.
“The Court should vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all further deadlines in the case until President Trump’s immunity appeals are fully and finally resolved, which should result in a dismissal of this case, which should have never been brought in the first place,” Trump’s filing states.
Read also: Judge insists Trump must be sentenced in criminal case but signals no jail
The Manhattan district attorney’s office urged Merchan to deny Trump’s request to postpone his sentencing, according to a filing sent to the judge.
“Defendant will suffer no prejudice from the conclusion of criminal proceedings in the trial court given the Court’s intended sentence of an unconditional discharge and defendant’s decision to appear for sentencing virtually instead of in person—indeed, entry of judgment is necessary to allow the appeal defendant has repeatedly stated he will pursue,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
“And the current schedule is entirely a function of the defendant’s repeated requests to adjourn a sentencing date that was originally set for July 11, 2024; he should not now be heard to complain of harm from delays he caused,” prosecutors added.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records over payments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, in order to keep her from speaking out about an alleged affair before the 2016 election. (Trump has denied the affair.)
Trump was initially set to be sentenced in the case in July, but that was delayed until after the election in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Merchan had also previously rejected Trump’s attempt to dismiss the case on the basis of presidential immunity.
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