By Susan Heavey and Luc Cohen
- Washington, D.C./New York (Reuters) -Donald Trump requested an opportunity to argue that he should have been exempt from prosecution, and on Tuesday a New York court granted his request, delaying his sentence until September 18 after his conviction on criminal charges related to hush money payments to a porn actress.
- According to the revised timeframe, by the time Trump is convicted, his party will probably have selected him to run against Democratic President Joe Biden. Amid the heat of the general election campaign leading up to the election on November 5, Justice Juan Merchan will now determine Trump’s sentence, including whether or not to put him in prison.
- Given that a large portion of the behavior under investigation in the hush money case occurred before Trump took office, he will have a difficult time having the verdict reversed.
- On Monday, Trump’s attorneys requested permission from Merchan to present their case in Manhattan state court, arguing that his conviction should be reversed since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on July 1 that presidents are exempt from criminal prosecution for official activities.
- Although they acknowledged that Trump’s argument had “without merit,” the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office prosecutors decided to postpone the sentence to allow Trump an opportunity to present his case.
- In a written decision, Merchant said that he would decide on Trump’s request by September 6. Should the judge decide to sustain the verdict, punishment would occur less than two weeks later. Trump’s attorneys have until July 10 to present their arguments, and the prosecution has until July 24 to reply.
- On May 30, a Manhattan jury found that Trump had fabricated financial records to conceal the $130,000 that he had paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a purported 2006 sexual encounter until after the election, which Trump had won against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
- The payment, according to the prosecution, was a component of a criminal plot to rig the election.
- After being sentenced, Trump promised to fight the case even though he denies ever having sex with Daniels.
“AN ITEM SOLELY PERSONAL”
- Defense attorneys said in a letter to Merchan that the prosecution had shown proof of Trump’s official presidential actions, including remarks he made on social media and talks he had while in the White House.
- Prosecutors are prohibited by the Supreme Court’s decision from using evidence of official conduct to support criminal charges concerning unofficial actions.
- Attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove stated, “This official-acts evidence should never have been put before the jury.”
- Trump used a similar defense during an abortive attempt to transfer the hush money lawsuit to federal court last year. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said in rejecting Trump’s motion in July 2023 that the payment to Daniels “was a purely personal item.”
- “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts,” Hellerstein said.
- Hellerstein’s ruling was challenged by Trump’s attorneys, but they eventually gave up on the case.
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