NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� A judge agreed Friday to postpone Donald Trump鈥檚 sentencing in his hush money case until after the November election, granting him a hard-won reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his presidential campaign.
Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is also weighing a defense request to overturn the verdict on immunity grounds, delayed Trump鈥檚 sentencing until Nov. 26, three weeks after the final votes are cast in the presidential election.
It had been scheduled for Sept. 18, about seven weeks before Election Day. The new date is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
The delay, the latest bit of good legal fortune for Trump, means the presidential election will be decided without voters knowing if the Republican nominee is going to jail.
Merchan explained in a four-page decision that he was postponing the sentencing 鈥渢o avoid any appearance 鈥� however unwarranted 鈥� that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.鈥�
鈥淭he Court is a fair, impartial, and apolitical institution,鈥� he added, writing that his decision 鈥渟hould dispel any suggestion鈥� otherwise.
Trump鈥檚 lawyers pushed for the delay on multiple fronts, and asking a . They argued that punishing the former president in the thick of his campaign to retake the White House would amount to election interference.
Trump鈥檚 lawyers argued that delaying his sentencing until after the election would also allow him time to weigh next steps after Merchan rules on the defense鈥檚 request to because of the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 July .
In his order Friday, Merchan delayed a decision on that until Nov. 12.
A to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan seize the case from Merchan鈥檚 state court. Had they been successful, they would have then sought to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds. Trump is appealing the federal court decision and asked the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to halt postconviction proceedings. That court has not yet ruled.
Trump entered this election year facing the possibility of multiple criminal trials after he was indicted four times since March 2023. But a string of decisions in the last two months, culminating with Friday's sentencing delay, has largely cleared his legal calendar. The hush money case is the only one to have gone to trial.
In July, a judge dismissed a federal case in Florida charging Trump with illegally hoarding classified documents. At the same time, the Supreme Court鈥檚 immunity decision has ensured significant delays in a separate federal case in Washington, D.C. in which Trump's accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. A Georgia election case also remains idled.
鈥淭here should be no sentencing in the Manhattan DA鈥檚 Election Interference Witch Hunt," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement after Merchan ruled. He said all cases against Trump should be dismissed because of the Supreme Court's decision.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which prosecuted the case, had not staked a position on the defense鈥檚 delay request, deferring to Merchan.
鈥淎 jury of 12 New Yorkers swiftly and unanimously convicted Donald Trump of 34 felony counts," DA鈥檚 office spokesperson Danielle Filson said. The office, she said, "stands ready for sentencing on the new date set by the court.鈥�
Election Day is Nov. 5, but many states allow voters to cast ballots early, with some set to start the process just a few days before or after the date Sept. 18.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels claims she and Trump had a sexual encounter a decade earlier after they met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
Prosecutors cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him during his first presidential campaign. Trump鈥檚 former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.
Trump maintains that the stories were false, that reimbursements were for legal work and logged correctly, and that the case was part of a politically motivated 鈥渨itch hunt鈥� aimed at damaging his current campaign. Bragg is a Democrat.
Democrats backing their party鈥檚 nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, have made his conviction a focus of their messaging.
In speeches at the party鈥檚 convention in Chicago last month, President Joe Biden called Trump a 鈥渃onvicted felon鈥� running against a former prosecutor. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, labeled Trump a 鈥渃areer criminal, with 34 felonies, two impeachments and one porn star to prove it.鈥�
Trump鈥檚 2016 Democratic opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, inspired chants of 鈥渓ock him up鈥� from the convention crowd when she quipped that Trump 鈥渇ell asleep at his own trial, and when he woke up, he made his own kind of history: the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions.鈥�
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge, which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.
Trump鈥檚 case 鈥渟tands alone, in a unique place in this Nation鈥檚 history,鈥� Merchan wrote.
The public鈥檚 confidence 鈥渋n the integrity of our judicial system demands a sentencing hearing that is entirely focused on the verdict of the jury and the weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors free from distraction or distortion,鈥� he wrote.
Trump has pledged to appeal the verdict, but that cannot happen until he is sentenced.
In seeking the delay, Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove argued that the short time between the scheduled immunity ruling on Sept. 16 and sentencing, which was to have taken place two days later, was unfair to Trump.
To prepare for a Sept. 18 sentencing, the lawyers said, prosecutors would be submitting their punishment recommendation while Merchan is still weighing whether to dismiss the case. If Merchan rules against Trump, he would need 鈥渁dequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options,鈥� they said.
The Supreme Court鈥檚 immunity decision reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president鈥檚 unofficial actions were illegal.
Trump鈥檚 lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the Daniels deal.
Michael R. Sisak And Jennifer Peltz, The Associated Press
