Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump attends a press conference at Trump Tower in New York City, US, on May 31, 2024, the day after he was found guilty in a criminal trial of falsifying business records to hide money paid to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Lawyers for Donald Trump have asked a New York court to postpone the trial date in the former president’s hush money criminal trial until after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The Republican presidential nominee’s lawyers argued that delaying Trump’s sentencing until after the election would “mitigate, if not eliminate, questions about the fairness of future litigation.” NBC News.
They also argued that there is no reason for New York Judge Juan Marchan to stick with the current sentencing schedule other than a “blatant intent to interfere in the election.”
“There is no justification for continued haste,” wrote lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove in a letter dated Wednesday. “We therefore respectfully request that a ruling, if one is necessary, be delayed until after the presidential election.”
Trump is currently scheduled to be sentenced on September 18, about seven weeks before Election Day.
Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, less than two months after he was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Judge Marchan postponed the ruling until July 2 after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are entitled to “constructive immunity” from prosecution for any official acts they performed while in office. Following the Supreme Court’s shocking decision, Trump’s lawyers filed a motion to vacate the hush money award. Judge Marchan has not yet ruled on that request.
A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment on the Trump defense team’s latest request.
This is breaking news, please check back for updates.
