A Manhattan judge has agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s sentencing in the hush money case until after the presidential election scheduled for November. Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is also considering a defence request to overturn the verdict on immunity grounds, has rescheduled Trump’s sentencing to November 26, several weeks after the final votes are cast. The sentencing had initially been set for September 18, just ahead of the election.
Trump’s legal team argued that proceeding with the sentencing in the midst of his presidential campaign would constitute election interference. They contended that delaying the sentencing until after the election would allow Trump time to assess his next steps, particularly in light of Merchan’s forthcoming decision on whether to reverse the conviction based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
Earlier on August 29, Trump asked a federal court to intervene in the case, where he was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payment to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump's lawyers had asked the federal court in Manhattan to seize the case from the state court where it was brought and tried, arguing that the historic prosecution violated Trump's constitutional rights and ran afoul of the US Supreme Court's recent ruling on presidential immunity. They said moving the case to the federal court will give him an "unbiased forum, free from local hostilities” to address those issues.
What is Hush money case against Trump?
A Manhattan jury on May 30 found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter until after the 2016 election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.
(With AP Inputs)
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