Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends the second day of his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 16, 2024.
Mary Altaffer | AFP | Getty Images
A New York judge Friday indefinitely postponed President-elect Donald Trump‘s sentencing in his criminal hush money case.
Judge Juan Merchan in a court order also allowed Trump’s attorneys to file motions to dismiss the case, in which Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The ruling cancels, for now, the sentencing that was set for next Tuesday.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told Merchan this week that they supported pausing the sentencing date in order to give Trump’s lawyers time to argue that the case should be tossed entirely.
But the DA’s office also said they would oppose that dismissal bid.
Trump’s attorneys — including Todd Blanche, whom Trump recently tapped to be the No. 2 official at the Department of Justice — argued Tuesday that the case must be thrown out “immediately.”
“Just as a sitting President is completely immune from any criminal process, so too is President Trump as President-elect,” Blanche and lawyer Emil Bove wrote in a letter to Merchan.
Blanche referred CNBC to Trump’s transition team, which celebrated the court order.
“In a decisive win for President Trump, the hoax Manhattan Case is now fully stayed and sentencing is adjourned,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“All of the sham lawfare attacks against President Trump are now destroyed,” Cheung said.
The hush money case centered on an effort by Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to keep porn star Stormy Daniels from speaking out before the 2016 election about her alleged sexual affair with Trump years earlier. Cohen said Trump, after becoming president, reimbursed him for that $130,000 payment.
Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, and accused prosecutors of political motives in pursuing the case.
The jury convicted Trump on all counts in May, and Trump was originally set to be sentenced in mid-July. But that step was repeatedly postponed in light of a Supreme Court ruling that former presidents enjoy presumptive immunity for all the official acts they performed in office.
The case in Manhattan Supreme Court was the only one of four separate criminal matters against Trump to head to trial before he won the Nov. 5 presidential election against Vice President Kamala Harris.
As a result of Trump’s victory, the other criminal cases are likely to come to an end.
Two cases against Trump in federal court are expected to be abandoned by the prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith, before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
The cases in Washington, D.C., and Florida are based, respectively, on allegations that Trump illegally tried to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, and that he illegally mishandled classified records after leaving the White House.
As president, Trump could fire Smith — and he has said he plans to do so. Smith and his team reportedly plan to resign before Trump gets the chance.
Another state-level criminal case against Trump in Georgia is also on hold, and could stay that way for years.
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