Trump asks Hush Money judge to delay sentencing until after election

Former President Donald Trump is now asking the judge overseeing his felony case to delay his Sept. 18 sentencing until after the November general election, saying it would “mitigate” the “appearance of impropriety.”

“There is no reason to continue the rush,” Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche wrote in a letter dated Wednesday but made public Thursday.

He suggested that the current doomsday could be seen as an attempt to meddle in the election because Trump is the Republican candidate.

However, the judgment date has already been postponed once.

On May 30, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying corporate records in a case involving hard money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Trump is accused of using his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to disguise the true purpose of the payment to help him win the election.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan originally scheduled Trump’s sentencing hearing for July 11.

But a July 1 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the lawsuit because the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. presidents are immune from prosecution for any acts that are part of their official duties. That same day, Trump’s team referenced the decision in a letter to Merchan, asking him to delay the sentencing.

The merchant agreed and moved the processing to September 18.

The judge said he will assess in advance how the US Supreme Court’s immunity ruling applies to the facts of Trump’s case and will rule only if he decides the conviction should stand. He is expected to do so by September 16.

Although Trump was in office when the corporate documents in question were created, the cover-up of the cash payment was hatched in advance and is probably not related to his official duties as president.

Earlier this week, Merchan refused to recuse himself from the case at Trump’s request for the third time since 2023.

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