Judge Merchan postpones sentencing against Trump until after the election

Judge Juan Merchan decided to delay sentencing against former President Trump in the New York vs. Trump case until after the presidential election in November.

Trump's sentencing is now scheduled for November 26. The original date was September 18.

“Public confidence in the integrity of our justice system requires a criminal trial that focuses entirely on the jury's verdict and the balancing of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, without distraction or distortion,” Merchan said in a letter Friday.

“Unfortunately, we now find ourselves in a time fraught with complexities that make it difficult to carry out the requirements of a criminal trial should one be necessary. In accordance with some of the reasons put forward by the defendant and the reasons put forward by the prosecution for the adjournment, coupled with the unique time frame in which this matter currently finds itself, the decision on the [motion] and the sentencing is adjourned to avoid any appearance, however unfounded, that the proceedings have been influenced or are attempting to be influenced by the upcoming presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate,” Merchan said.

Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts of first-degree falsification of business records in an unprecedented criminal trial, following a six-week trial before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's investigation.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital: “There should be no conviction in the Manhattan District Attorney's witch-fight over election interference. As ordered by the United States Supreme Court, this case should be dismissed along with all other Harris-Biden hoaxes.”

Trump's sentence was originally scheduled to be announced on July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention where he would be officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate for 2024. However, Judge Juan Merchan agreed to postpone the sentencing until September 18.

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Trump's lawyers then requested that the verdict be postponed until after the presidential election in November, citing “obvious intentions to influence the election.”

Trump has appealed the verdict after pleading not guilty to all charges. Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche said the verdict must be overturned because of the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump will appear in his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on May 30, 2024. (Steven Hirsch Pool/Getty Images)

Blanche also pointed to the work of Merchan's daughter at Authentic Campaigns, which represents top Democratic candidates.

TRUMP ASKS FEDERAL COURT TO TAKE OVER BRAGG CASE WEEKS BEFORE SENTENCE

In his dismissal, Blanche argued that Bragg introduced official documents as evidence during the unprecedented six-week criminal trial, including official White House communications to aides such as Hope Hicks, Madeleine Westerhout and others, according to Blanche.

The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that a former president enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for official acts, but not for unofficial acts. The Supreme Court declared that Trump was immune from prosecution for “official acts,” but left it to the lower court to determine exactly where the line between official and unofficial acts is drawn.

Former President Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (Emily Elconin/Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Trump last week asked a federal court to remove the New York criminal case from the state, arguing that he had been the victim of “constitutional violations” in a proceeding that contradicted the Supreme Court's recent ruling on presidential immunity.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied that request, saying there was nothing in the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity that changed his view that private payments to a porn star had nothing to do with a president's official actions.

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He had previously stated that Trump's repayments to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer who brokered the hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, were not official acts of his term as president.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to the media after a jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York on Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP/Seth Wenig)

“My demand for restitution of the hush money remains regardless of who bears the burden, whether the people or Mr. Trump,” Hellerstein wrote in his decision. “Nothing in the Supreme Court's decision affects my prior conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts outside the bounds of executive power.”