A judge delayed sentencing Trump in the hush money case until after the November election

A New York judge has postponed former President Donald Trump’s sentencing on felony charges until November 26.

“This is not a decision that this court makes lightly, but it is one that, in the court’s view, best advances the interests of justice,” Judge Juan Merchan wrote in his ruling Friday.

Merchan issued the ruling after Trump’s lawyers had asked him to delay the Sept. 18 ruling until after the Nov. 5 election so they could appeal a pending ruling on the president’s immunity.

That decision was expected by September 16 – just two days before the former president’s first sentencing on criminal charges. Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying corporate documents related to a hush-hush payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign.

“One business day is an unreasonably short amount of time” for such a complaint, Trump’s lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued in an Aug. 14 filing. “There’s no reason to keep rushing.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecutors said they would “adjourn until the court decides whether an adjournment is warranted so that Trump’s appeal can be properly processed, but would “be prepared to appear for sentencing at any date set by the court. .”

Merchan said in his order Friday that he considered that the DA essentially agreed to the request. He also acknowledged that the case “is unique, at a unique place in the history of this nation.”

“The public’s trust in the integrity of our justice system requires a sentencing hearing that focuses entirely on the jury’s decision and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors without distraction or distortion. The members of this jury worked diligently on this case, and their judgment must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election. The person in charge also has the right to a court where his constitutional rights are respected and protected, the judge wrote.

The order also moved his immunity sentencing date to November 12 – two weeks before a possible sentencing date and after the election.

Merchan said the delay should help “avoid any evidence – however unsubstantiated – that the proceeding has influenced, or is intended to influence, the upcoming presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate.”

Trump offered a different view later in the day in a speech to the Brotherhood of Police in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“The Manhattan DA witch hunt against me has been put on hold because everyone understands there was no case because I did nothing wrong. It’s a witch hunt. It’s an attack by my political opponents in Washington DC and my comrade Kamala Harris,” he said. . “This case should rightly be closed immediately.”

The ruling came about an hour after Trump called Merchan a “very hostile” judge in a speech to reporters in Manhattan about the various legal cases he faces, which he said are “scams.”

Bragg’s office said in a statement: “A jury of 12 New Yorkers quickly and unanimously convicted Donald Trump of 34 felonies. The Manhattan Police Department is ready to issue a verdict on a date set by the court.”

The delay is the second time Trump’s sentencing has been postponed because of a US Supreme Court decision to extend presidential immunity in an unrelated federal criminal case against Trump in Washington, DC. The sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11, but Merchan granted a request by Trump’s lawyers for more time to try to convince him that the immunity granted by the Supreme Court on July 1 should result in the conviction being overturned and the indictment dismissed.

They argue that the drastic action is necessary because the Supreme Court’s ruling shows that Manhattan prosecutors should not have been allowed to present evidence of his “official acts” at trial, including testimony from former White House aide Hope Hicks, in which she described a conversation with him. Trump when he was president and the use of various public statements he made as president as exhibits. Prosecutors argue that the Supreme Court’s ruling had no effect on the evidence they presented at trial, which focused on Trump’s personal conduct, and that the judge should set aside the historic jury verdict.

Trump’s lawyers also launched a second attempt last month to move the state’s case to federal court, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling, which could delay a ruling. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied the request earlier this week.

Hellerstein rejected Trump’s attempt to move the case to federal court last year, stating that the evidence in the case “overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was purely personal to Trump” — “a cover-up of an embarrassing incident for an adult movie star unrelated to the president’s official actions.”

He said the Supreme Court decision did not change his position. “Nothing in the Supreme Court’s view affects my earlier conclusion that hush money was a private, informal act outside the bounds of the executive branch,” Hellerstein wrote.

In a ruling issued shortly before Merchan’s ruling on Friday, Hellerstein also denied Trump’s effort to delay the case while he appeals the ruling.

Trump faced four criminal trials this year. The New York case is the only one that has gone to trial.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com