A New York judge on Friday postponed former President Trump’s sentencing until Nov. 26, a ruling that would allow Trump to avoid facing any criminal charges until after the election.
Trump has routinely used delay as a legal strategy to retake the White House and halt his own prosecution.
He has already successfully dismissed or closed three of his four criminal cases as pretrial matters after the election. Friday’s ruling gave Trump a similar victory in his silence money case, the only one so far to end in a conviction.
Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the seven-week trial, was scheduled to sentence Trump on September 18. But he granted the delay after Trump argued for a number of reasons, including that he would first appeal if Merchan did not dismiss the 34 convictions on grounds of presidential immunity.
Judge Merchant stressed in his ruling that by delaying sentencing he would ensure that the November election would not be affected by his ruling, and vice versa.
“This case is a unique case in the history of this country, and this court has presided over it since its inception, from trial to jury trial, and on countless motions and other matters in between.” Written by Merchant. “If this court, after carefully considering the Supreme Court’s decision in the Trump case, decides that this case should proceed, it will face one of the most important and difficult decisions a court justice ever faces: sentencing a defendant convicted by a unanimous jury of his peers.
“The motion for adjournment is now decided in the same way this court has decided any other matter that has arisen since this case began, that is, after careful consideration of the issues and their respective arguments, applying the facts and the law so as to ensure that the integrity of the proceedings is protected, justice is done, and the independence of this judiciary is firmly maintained,” he wrote.
Trump has tried persistently and unsuccessfully to delay the silent money trial. Last month, he tried for the second time to move his case to federal court. It was a last resort, but was quickly overturned by a federal judge who said the former president failed to show “good cause.”
But since the Supreme Court ruled that the president has immunity, Trump has experienced new success.
Merchant originally scheduled Trump’s sentencing for July after a jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from a hush money deal during Trump’s 2016 campaign. Trump’s attorneys did not object to that date.
But after the Supreme Court ruled that the former president’s official acts carry at least presumptive criminal immunity and that protected acts cannot be introduced into evidence, Trump asked for another delay. The judge quickly pushed back the sentencing to September so the former president could first try to get his conviction vacated.
While much of the hush money and trial at issue concerns Trump’s conduct before he became president, his attorneys argue that the jury improperly looked at tweets from his White House days, his government ethics form, testimony from two White House aides and a handful of other protected acts.
Merchant is scheduled to rule on Trump’s immunity claim by Sept. 16, raising the possibility of last-minute chaos ahead of Trump’s sentencing that same week.
“A single business day is an unreasonably short period of time for President Trump to assert these rights while avoiding the prospect of an ‘administrative encroachment’ on future generations,” Trump’s attorneys wrote in their motion for a delay.
Merchan’s ruling postponed his pardon until November 12, after the election. The judge said if the ruling were upheld, sentencing would be scheduled for November 26.
“The court is a fair, impartial, and non-political body,” Merchan wrote. “By postponing decisions on motions and, if necessary, issuing sentences, the court should remove any suggestion that any decision or sentence was made to favor or disadvantage any party and/or candidate for any office.”
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheng said in a statement that no judgment should be passed in the case and that Trump’s money laundering case and other legal challenges should be dismissed “in accordance with the order of the U.S. Supreme Court.”
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office emphasized that a jury of 12 New Yorkers “swiftly and unanimously” convicted Trump in the case.
“The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office stands ready to impose sentencing on the new date set by the court,” the spokesperson said.
Prosecutors did not object to the delay, but conceded to the judge, citing security concerns that led to Trump’s sentencing being canceled at the last minute. But they criticized some of Trump’s other delay claims, including his previously dismissed complaint that the judge’s daughter worked for a progressive digital agency.
“The people respectfully yield to the court regarding the schedule after a proper trial,” the prosecution wrote.
Updated at 1:49 PM EDT
