A latest York The judge on Monday rejected a request from President-elect Donald Trump to postpone Friday's scheduled sentencing in his New York hush money case.
The ruling means Trump could have to get an appeals court to dam his conviction if he fails to look on the trial 10 days before he’s scheduled to be sworn in as president for a second non-consecutive term within the White House.
Trump's lawyers had argued earlier Monday to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan that the sentencing needs to be mechanically stayed pending an appeal of recent decisions he made within the case.
Merchan rejected this argument.
“This court has reviewed defendant's arguments in support of his motion and concludes that they are largely a repetition of arguments he has made numerous times in the past,” Merchan wrote in a call.
“Furthermore, this court finds that the authorities relied upon by defendant in the present motion are largely factually distinguishable from the actual record or are not legally applicable,” the judge wrote.
The Manhattan district attorney's office had previously asked Merchan to disclaim Trump's request to delay his sentencing pending an appeal.
The prosecutor's office said there was a “strong public interest in expeditious prosecution and the finality of the criminal proceedings – interests that are particularly salient here in light of the jury's guilty verdict.”
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, just before that 12 months's presidential election.
Merchan said last week that he was not inclined to sentence Trump to prison within the case and in addition suggested he would impose a sentence that didn’t include probation or a advantageous.
The same day, Merchan rejected arguments that he should dismiss the case in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that presidents enjoy presumptive immunity from prosecution for official acts while within the White House and due to Constitution's Supremacy Clause.
The prosecution's motion on Monday states that Merchan “has already explained this [his] Because he intends to impose the lowest sentence permitted by law, Trump will not suffer any harm from closing the case through conviction that would allow him to appeal his conviction.
In a statement Monday, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said: “Today, President Trump's legal team took steps to stop the wrongful conviction as a part of the Manhattan District Attorney's witch hunt.”
“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on immunity, the New York State Constitution and other established precedents demand that this baseless hoax be immediately rejected,” Cheung said.
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