NEW YORK — The sentencing date for former US President Donald Trump in the hush money case was postponed on Tuesday to Sept 18 from July 11, following the US Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, reported Xinhua.
Trump’s attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove on Monday sought leave to file a motion to set aside a jury’s verdict reached on May 30, based on the Supreme Court’s latest decision.
Trump’s attorneys in a letter to Juan M. Merchan, a judge from New York County Supreme Court, said the verdicts in the hush money case violate the presidential immunity doctrine and create grave risks of “an Executive Branch that cannibalises itself”.
Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said on Tuesday that they don’t oppose the defendant’s request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing though they believe the defendant’s arguments have no merits.
The prosecutors request a deadline of July 24 to file, which is two weeks after the defendant’s requested deadline of July 10.
In a letter to the prosecutors and defedant’s attorneys, Judge Merchan said he would rule on Trump’s motion to set aside a jury’s verdict on Sept 6 and he would deliver a sentencing on Sept 18 if a sentence is still necessary.
The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled that Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 US presidential election, has some immunity from criminal charges for trying to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump praised the Supreme Court’s ruling, claiming it a “big win for our constitution and democracy”.
A jury in New York in late May found Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to hide hush money payment to a porn star in 2016.
— BERNAMA-XINHUA
