Trump sentencing on hush money case delayed until after election
Click here to view this content.
Donald Trump won a major legal victory when a judge agreed to delay sentencing the former president for falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair with a porn star until after the election.
In May a New York jury convicted Trump on all 34 counts, making him the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Trump had been found guilty of trying massaging business records to hide the payment of $130,000 shortly before the 2016 presidential election to porn star, Stormy Daniels, who claimed the couple had had a sexual encounter.
The allegations have been repeatedly denied by Trump.
It was unclear what political impact the delay will have on the election.
On the one hand it left Trump going into an election as a convicted felon with former prosecutor Kamala Harris.
But at the same time, Trump has raised millions of dollars on the back of the court cases and the publication of his mug shot, with his supporters saying the prosecutions were politically motivated.
Trump, 78, faced the possibility of being sentenced to a jail term seven weeks before the presidential election.
In his four-page ruling, Judge Juan Merchan rescheduled the sentencing for November 26.
“This is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court’s view, best advances the interests of justice,” the judge wrote.
He said “this matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation’s history” as he admitted the “unique time frame” surrounding the case.
Trump’s legal team, which is also appealing the verdict, had repeatedly argued for sentencing to be delayed. The prosecution raised no objection to sentencing being postponed.
The judge’s ruling came a matter of hours after the former president’s legal team asked another court to overturn a ruling that he was liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll.
In May 2023 a jury upheld Ms Carroll’s allegation, denied by Trump, that he had sexually abused and defamed the writer and awarded her $5 million damages.
The blizzard of litigation has infuriated Trump, who speaking to journalists at Trump Tower on Friday lunchtime, rounded n “biased” judges and juries in Manhattan where, he said Republicans accounted for only a few per cent of voters.
Trump is still facing prosecution in Georgia for his attempt to overturn the election result in the state.
Also, last month Special Prosecutor Jack Smith secured a redrafted indictment over Trump’s s alleged role in the January 6 insurrection, taking into account the Supreme Court’s majority ruling that he enjoyed legal immunity for actions taken as president.
