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President-elect Donald Trump’s legal team pressed New York Judge Juan Merchan to delay his January 10 sentencing for his so-called “hush money” criminal conviction in a new filing.
Last week, despite Trump’s upcoming return to the White House on January 20, Merchan ruled that his sentencing could still move forward.
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 requested Merchan to decide by 2 p.m. ET Monday and 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.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will file a response Monday afternoon, according to a spokesperson.
Trump’s team has argued that the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision deemed evidence presented to the jury during the trial inadmissible, including social media posts during his presidency and testimony from White House aides.
His lawyers also argued that presidential immunity should include Trump’s transitional period as president-elect when asking for the case to be dismissed.
Merchan would not budge and rejected both arguments. He did indicate that he had no intentions of sentencing Trump with jail time, according to Just The News.
“Given that Presidential immunity entails immunity from the burdens of criminal litigation such as trial and sentencing, forcing the President to defend a criminal case — especially at a sentencing hearing ten days before he is due to become President again — while his claim is adjudicated on appeal would ‘eviscerate’ immunity by ‘depriving immunity of its intended effect,’” his attorneys wrote.
President Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday to remind Americans of the politicized nature of the case, calling it a “sham trial.”