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New York Judge Juan Merchan rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to delay the sentencing in his hush money case on Monday.
The judge set the sentencing for Jan. 10, just 10 days before Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.
Merchan wrote that Trump “is unlikely to prevail on the merits of any interlocutory appeals.”
He added, “This Court has considered Defendant’s arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past, including in his Criminal Procedure Law motion to vacate his conviction and dismiss the indictment; and his ‘Clayton Motion’ to dismiss in the interests of justice, both of which this Court denied by Decision.”
The decision will make Trump the first convicted felon to take office as president, though Trump intends to continue his appeal of the verdict. No jail time is expected to be announced.
As RSBN previously reported, Trump’s team argued that the sentencing should be delayed, given that they are currently appealing Merchan’s recent rulings to uphold the jury’s guilty verdict.
“By virtue of President Trump’s filing of appellate proceedings raising his claims of Presidential immunity, all proceedings in this Court are automatically stayed by operation of federal constitutional law,” his attorneys wrote in a filing, which was released on Monday.
“In the alternative, even if such a stay were discretionary, the Court should grant such a stay. 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 team wrote.
The filing also noted that they would be filing two additional appeals on Monday in state court.
“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” incoming White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote in a statement.
