Former President Donald Trump sits in court during his hush money trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, New York City, April 26, 2024.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
a new york A judge on Monday denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request to postpone Friday’s scheduled sentencing in a New York criminal hush money case.
The ruling means that if President Trump wants to avoid going to trial, he must ask an appeals court to block the ruling at least 10 days before he is scheduled to take office in the White House for a second non-consecutive term. I am doing it.
Trump’s lawyers argued earlier Monday to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Marchan that sentencing should be automatically stayed pending Trump’s appeal of his recently handed down sentence.
Mr Marchand rejected that argument.
“After considering Defendant’s arguments in support of Defendant’s motion, this court finds that the majority of them are repeats of claims that Defendant has raised many times in the past,” Marchand wrote in his decision. said.
“Furthermore, this court finds that most of the authorities relied upon by defendants in their instant motion are either factually distinguishable from the actual record or legally inapplicable,” the judge wrote.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had previously asked Marchand to deny President Trump’s request to delay the sentence pending appeal.
The district attorney’s office said there is “strong public interest in expedited prosecution and finalization of criminal proceedings, and this interest is particularly acute in light of the jury’s guilty verdict.”
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments he made to porn actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
Marchand said last week that he did not intend to sentence Trump to prison in the case, and suggested he might impose a sentence that does not include probation or fines.
On the same day, Marchan rejected the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the president has presumed immunity from criminal prosecution for his official actions while in the White House, and his argument that he should abandon the lawsuit, citing the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. did.
Prosecutors’ motion Monday said Marchan “has already stated this.” [his] “I intend to impose the lowest possible sentence allowed by law,” President Trump said in a statement. said.
“Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to block the Manhattan prosecutor’s office’s wrongful conviction in its witch hunt,” President Trump’s press secretary Stephen Chan said in a statement Monday.
“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on immunity, the New York State Constitution, and other well-established legal precedents mandate the immediate dismissal of this worthless misinformation,” Chan said.
