July 2, 2024
Former President Trump will not be sentenced next week after all. The hearing to hand down a punishment after a jury convicted him of 34 felonies in that New York hush money case has just been postponed until September 18th if it happens at all.
This is the first domino to fall since the supreme court’s landmark presidential immunity ruling yesterday.
Trump was supposed to be sentenced in New York on July 11th but immediately after yesterday’s ruling trump’s legal team fired off a letter to New York judge Juan Merchan requesting a delay of next week’s hearing. Trump’s legal team is arguing the Manhattan prosecutors built their case against trump – based on evidence the Supreme Court now says is ineligible. The Trump team says judge Merchan should at the very least give the former president a new trial and at best – vacate his conviction.
Quick refresher – the Supreme Court said in yesterday’s ruling that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts they take while serving as president of the United States. They do not have immunity for unofficial acts they take. But the court also said — prosecutors cannot use official acts a president takes as evidence to prove a crime for unofficial acts.
And that’s what Trump’s team said New York prosecutors did. They say prosecutors brought in witnesses who worked for the former president while he was still a candidate and then transitioned into the white house and also introduced documents and phone calls he made related to these hush money payments while he was already serving as president.
Now – the District Attorney Alvin Bragg obviously disagrees with Trump’s team and says the 34 felonies the jury convicted Trump of happened long before he was president. But they also acknowledge the supreme court’s new ruling does need to be looked at.
Both Trump and Bragg’s teams say they are going to both file motions arguing what Trump’s sentence should be taking into account this new Supreme Court ruling. Judge Merchan said he will rule on Trump’s motion to set aside the verdict on September 6th and if a sentencing hearing is “still necessary” that will happen on September 18th.
