By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – US President-elect Donald Trump on Monday asked a New York judge to postpone his sentencing on Friday for a felony stemming from a secret payment to a porn star.
Citing both presidential immunity and the demands of Trump’s impending inauguration on January 20, his lawyers said Judge Juan Merchan’s intention not to sentence Trump was not “immediate.”
“The violations of presidential immunity cannot be ignored in favor of a hasty sentencing before the inauguration,” the lawyers wrote.
In scheduling Trump’s sentencing for Friday, the judge noted that he was not inclined to send Trump to prison. He wrote that an unconditional discharge, which would effectively put the guilty verdict on his record without a fine or probation, would be the most practical approach given Trump’s upcoming inauguration.
The judge said Trump, 78, could appear at the sentencing in person or virtually.
In a court filing Monday, attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove asked Merchan to delay sentencing Trump until the appeals are complete. Any delay would make it unlikely that Trump would be convicted before his January 20 inauguration.
They asked Merchan to let them know on Monday afternoon whether he would delay sentencing to give them time to appeal his decision if necessary.
A Republican, Trump has long argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, brought the case to hurt his re-election campaign. Bragg said his office routinely prosecutes charges of falsifying business records — a charge Trump faced in this case.
Prosecutors from Bragg’s office urged Merchan in response to reject Trump’s attempt to delay the sentencing.
“The balance of the stake goes heavily in favor of the People given the strong public interest in speedy prosecution and the finality of criminal proceedings,” prosecutors wrote.
The case arose out of a $130,000 payment by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about sexual contact she said she had with Trump, who denies it.
After a six-week trial in state criminal court in Manhattan, a jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying records to conceal the payment before the 2016 election.
The Hush Money case made Trump the first US president – current or former – to be charged and convicted of a crime. Since the verdict, his lawyers have tried twice unsuccessfully to have the case dismissed.
Merchan previously rejected their argument that the US Supreme Court’s July ruling in a separate criminal case against Trump that presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts means the silence case must be dismissed. Merchan ruled that the cover-up case involved Trump’s personal conduct.
After Trump’s re-election, his lawyers argued that the pending case while president would interfere with his ability to govern. Merchan rejected the offer, writing that overturning the jury’s verdict would be an affront to the rule of law.
