Donald Trump‘s latest effort to beat the clock and have his hush money case thrown out failed on Tuesday, when an appeals court judge rejected his request to have Friday’s sentencing delayed.
It was the latest setback to the president-elect after the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, ruled 24 hours earlier that the sentencing should go ahead as planned.
In response, Trump’s lawyers took their argument to the New York court of appeals on Tuesday morning asking for the case to be dismissed.
It relied on a recent Supreme Court decision that afford presidents some immunity.
‘Justice Merchan’s erroneous decisions threaten the institution of the Presidency and run squarely against established precedent disallowing any criminal process against a President-Elect, as well as prohibiting the use of evidence of a President’s official acts against him in a criminal proceeding,’ they write.
In so doing, they extended their argument that Trump has immunity to the transition period between winning the election and the moment he is sworn in on January 20.
Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer of the Appellate Division held an emergency hearing on Tuesday to test that claim.
Half an hour after it ended, she issued a one-line ruling: ‘After consideration of the papers submitted and the extensive oral argument, (Trump’s) application for an interim stay is denied.’
A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet
Stormy Daniels in January 2024, weeks before she gave evidence at Trump’s trial
The president-elect has maintained throughout the case that he is the victim of a political witch hunt.
A New York jury in April found the former president guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records for trying to hide a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
For the six weeks of his trial, he moved his election campaign for Manhattan. Supporters gathered outside the criminal courthouse everyday, and political allies, members of Congress, and aides joined him in the courtroom in a show of strength.
His subsequent reelection dealt Judge Juan Merchan a conundrum, as he tried to balance meting out punishment with the constitutional difficulty of locking up a president.
On Monday, Trump’s lawyers asked him in a 17-page ruling to delay sentencing this week pending an appeal.
‘Presidential immunity violations cannot be ignored in favor of a rushed pre-inauguration sentencing,’ his lawyers wrote.
Merchan responded by saying he would press ahead with sentencing and that their arguments were mostly ‘a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past.’
He has previously said he will not send Trump to prison, opting instead for a conditional discharge.
Trump’s lawyers lodged a 500-page appeal on Tuesday morning
Justice Juan Merchan on Monday denied the incoming president’s motion to delay the case
That means Trump will remain a convicted felon, but without having even a fine or probation when he is sworn in as president 10 days later on January 20.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said after Monday’s ruling: ‘Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt.
‘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.’
Since the verdict, Trump’s lawyers have made two unsuccessful attempts to have the case tossed.
In their latest, 500-page submission, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, said: ‘Justice is without authority under the law to proceed to sentencing while President Trump exercises his federal constitutional right to challenge these rulings.’
Both lawyers are due to take up positions in the new Trump administration.
Blanche is nominated to become deputy U.S. attorney general, while Bove is lined up to be principal associate deputy attorney general, in another sign of the way Trump’s legal and political lives are entwined.
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