Justice Juan Merchan last month delayed Trump’s previously scheduled Nov. 26 sentencing indefinitely to give him the chance to seek dismissal. Trump’s lawyers argue having the case loom over his four-year presidential term that begins on Jan.
20 would cause “unconstitutional impediments” to the Republican businessman-turned-politician’s ability to govern, Reuters reported. Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office supported delaying the sentencing to give Trump the chance to make his case for dismissal, though they said they would oppose that bid. The prosecutors have until Dec.
9 to respond. The judge has not indicated when he would rule on Trump’s motion to dismiss, and has not set a new date for sentencing. Bragg’s office has suggested he defer all proceedings in the case until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029.
The New York case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it. A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a US president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offense.
Trump pleaded not guilty in the case, which he has sought to portray as a politically motivated attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to interfe.