Trump sentencing to be delayed until after RNC – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump will not face criminal sentencing in his New York hush money case before he accepts the GOP presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this month.
Judge Juan Merchan on Tuesday postponed Trump’s sentencing date to Sept. 18 so he can consider an argument from the former president’s attorneys that a Supreme Court decision this week expanding presidential immunity for official acts should erase Trump’s conviction.
Trump, who was convicted in late May on 34 counts of falsifying records tied to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, was originally scheduled to be sentenced July 11 — just four days before the RNC begins in Milwaukee.
But Trump’s attorneys this week argued that July 11 date should be delayed after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday ruled that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts, though can still be prosecuted for unofficial acts.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Tuesday said they did “not oppose” Trump’s request to postpone the sentencing but noted they “believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit.”
Merchan later Tuesday agreed to postpone the sentencing “pending further guidance from this Court,” setting the new sentencing date to mid-September.
Following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling Monday, Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove in a letter to Merchan sought to tie the New York hush money case to the ruling on presidential immunity, arguing prosecutors presented evidence stemming from Trump’s official acts as president that “should never have been put before the jury.”
The hush money payments to Daniels, however, occurred during Trump’s 2016 campaign and before he was elected president. Prosecutors have framed the payments as an effort to influence the election. The falsification of records Trump was convicted of stemmed from 2017, after he became president.
Following Trump’s conviction, a number of prominent Republicans in the state suggested his planned sentencing just days before the Milwaukee convention would change the tenor of the event. Former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson said the pre-convention sentencing would have “increase(d) the hyper-bitterness … that we’re witnessing in our country.”
The RNC will take place July 15-18 in downtown Milwaukee.