Associated Press
Former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case has been postponed to September after the Judge agreed Tuesday to weigh the possible impact of a new Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump had been scheduled to face sentencing July 11 on his New York conviction on felony charges of falsifying business records. He denies any wrongdoing.
The postponement sets the sentencing for Sept. 18, well after the Republican National Convention, where Trump is set formally to accept the party’s nomination for President in this year’s race. The convention runs from July 15 to 18.
A Supreme Court ruling Monday granted broad immunity protections to Presidents, while also restricting prosecutors from citing any official acts as evidence in trying to prove a President’s unofficial actions violated the law.
Hours after it was issued, Trump’s attorney requested that New York Judge Juan M. Merchan set aside the jury’s guilty verdict and delay the sentencing to consider how the high court’s ruling and could affect the hush money case. He said he’ll rule Sept. 6.
In their filing, defense attorneys argued that Manhattan prosecutors had placed “highly prejudicial emphasis on official-acts evidence,” including Trump’s social media posts and witness testimony about Oval Office meetings.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that they believed those arguments were “without merit,” but noted they were not opposed to adjourning the sentencing.
Trump was convicted May 30 on 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 Presidential Election.
Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Trump has repeatedly denied that claim, saying at his June 27 debate with President Joe Biden: “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.”
Prosecutors said the Daniels payment was part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have gone public during the campaign with embarrassing stories alleging he had extramarital sex. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-President convicted of a crime.
Trump will be required to be present in Merchan’s Manhattan courtroom when he is sentenced.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
9 comments
MarvinM
July 2, 2024 at 6:56 pm
This could not be more fair to defendant Trump.
The Act happened in the 2000s (granted, not what the case was about) and the cover-up started while Trump was a candidate – no immunity.
If any of you want to argue that the reimbursement checks Trump wrote to Cohen while he was president was somehow an “official act”, be my guest.
Given the recent supreme court ruling, the character of the presidential candidate matters more than ever.
Biden is a good man, and surrounds himself with good capable people. God forbid if something happened to him post 2024 election, but there is a capable VP who will also inherit the capable people Biden surrounds himself with.
I am absolutely at peace with myself that the country will be fine in that instance.
I am not at all at peace with myself that the country will be fine if Trump gets back into office, especially with the new supreme court ruling. Have y’all read Project 2025? Google it, it’s really scary.
Elvis Pitts "THE BIG VOICE ON THE RIGHT" American
July 2, 2024 at 9:29 pm
Good evening Sage Patriots,
Let us break down MarvinM’s above response to the above A. P. artical.
As we all know A. P. articals are loaded with just the type of lies and propaganda which those amoungst us with diminuative mental faculities, like MarvinM, will glome onto and internalize those dangerous lies/propaganda into the vast empty places in their brains and think it to be true.
Therefore we Sage Patriots must suffer with those amoungst us believing these A. P. artical lies.
Please join me in prayer for MarvinM and those like him with deminuative Brain Power that these Bond Villen A. P. articals will be revaled to them as lies so these folks can stop looking so retarded and annoying to all of use Sage Patriot Normal People.
Thank you, Amen,
Elvis Pitts American
MarvinM
July 2, 2024 at 10:16 pm
Dude, it’s “article” not “artical”.
You used it four times. Not a typo.
I look forward to reading future posts from you, with the word “article” correctly spelled.
Impeach Biden
July 3, 2024 at 7:40 am
Biden surrounds himself with good people? I’m LMFAO. Ka Mana, Granholm, Impeached Mayorkas, Buttegeig, and others. Thanks for the early morning laugh
Linwood Wright
July 3, 2024 at 12:27 pm
Joe Biden is now King. Kiss his ring before he puts you in the gulag.
Joe
July 3, 2024 at 12:39 pm
Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Manafort, Boris Epshteyn, Stephen Miller, Proud Boys, the ghost of Epstein himself — the list of treasonous criminal RepubliQans with blood-stained hands and corrupted souls surrounding King Donald the Diapered goes on and on…
The useful idiot poster “Impeach Biden” demonstrates yet again that every RepubliQan accusation is always a confession.
Joe
July 3, 2024 at 12:39 pm
Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Manafort, Boris Epshteyn, Stephen Miller, Proud Boys, the ghost of Epstein himself — the list of treasonous criminal RepubliQans with blood-stained hands and corrupted souls surrounding King Donald the Diapered goes on and on…
The foxbrained poster “Impeach Biden” demonstrates yet again that every RepubliQan accusation is always a confession.
Joe
July 3, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Manafort, Boris Epshteyn, Stephen Miller, Proud Boys, the ghost of Epstein himself — the list of treasonous criminal RepubliQans with dirty hands and corrupted souls surrounding King Donald the Diapered goes on and on…
The useful idiot poster “Impeach Biden” demonstrates yet again that every RepubliQan accusation is always a confession.
Joe
July 3, 2024 at 12:41 pm
Steve Bannon, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Rudy Giuliani, Paul Manafort, Boris Epshteyn, Stephen Miller, Proud Boys, the ghost of Epstein himself — the list of treasonous criminals with dirty hands and corrupted souls surrounding King Donald the Diapered goes on and on…
The foxbrained poster “Impeach Biden” demonstrates yet again that every right-wing accusation is always a confession.
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