New York judge denies Trump request to postpone hush-money sentencing News
Sgt. Alicia Brand, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
New York judge denies Trump request to postpone hush-money sentencing

A New York judge on Monday denied president-elect Donald Trump’s request to postpone his sentencing hearing for his hush-money conviction. Trump’s sentencing remains scheduled for January 10.

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan found that Trump’s arguments to delay the sentencing were “for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past.” Merchan added that the court had already denied such arguments.

Trump filed the motion to stay the proceedings against him on Sunday. The former president said he was appealing Merchan’s decisions to uphold his hush-money conviction and order his sentencing for January 10, and he argued that the filing of such appeals would “immediately resul[t] in an automatic stay” of the current proceedings. Trump argued in the alternative that Merchan should discretionally stay the proceedings.

Last week, Merchan ordered Trump to appear for sentencing on January 10. Merchan found that the president-elect did not enjoy presidential immunity since he had not yet taken the oath of office. The judge said the court would likely impose a sentence of unconditional discharge, allowing Trump to avoid jail time.

In May 2024, a jury convicted the former president on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump had sent $130,000 to his attorney Michael Cohen as a “hush-money” payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The court found that Trump falsified records to conceal the payments to unlawfully influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Trump’s sentencing was originally scheduled for July, but Merchan pushed the date until September 18 so he could consider Trump’s presidential immunity claim. Merchan then delayed the sentencing to November 26 to avoid any potential “prejudice” in the 2024 presidential election. He again postponed the sentencing on November 22 as a result of Trump’s electoral victory.

Last month, Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss his hush-money conviction. He found that the evidence introduced in the case was unrelated to Trump’s official conduct as president and thus did not receive any immunity protections.

Trump is set to return to office on January 20.

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