President-elect Donald Trump tried again Tuesday to delay this week’s sentencing in his hush money case, asking a New York appeals court to intervene as he fights to avoid finality of his conviction before his return to the White House.
Trump turned to the state trial court’s appellate division a day after the trial judge, Judge Juan M. Merchan, rebuffed his attempt to indefinitely postpone sentencing and ordered it to continue as planned on Friday.
Trump is seeking an emergency order that would spare him from conviction while appealing Merchan’s decision last week to uphold the historic verdict. Oral arguments were expected before a single judge later Tuesday, with a ruling likely soon after.
A quick decision is necessary “to prevent continued violations” of Trump’s constitutional rights “and a threatened disruption” of the presidential transition process, Trump attorney Todd Blanche wrote in a filing with the Division of Defense. ‘call.
Trump, less than two weeks before his inauguration, is poised to become the first president to take office convicted of crimes. If his conviction does not occur before the start of his second term on January 20, presidential immunity could suspend him until he leaves office.
Merchan signaled that he was not likely to punish Trump for his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records and would ease the transition by allowing him to appear at the sentencing by video, instead than in person at a Manhattan courthouse.
Still, the Republican and his attorneys argue that his conviction should not proceed because the conviction and indictment should be thrown out. They have already suggested taking the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mercan last Friday rejected Trump’s request to vacate his conviction and dismiss the case due to his imminent return to the White House, ruling that Trump’s current status as president-elect did not grant him the same immunity against criminal prosecution than a sitting president.
Mercan wrote that the interests of justice would only be served by “bringing finality to this matter” through sentencing. He said granting Trump what’s called an absolute discharge — closing the case without jail time, fines or probation — “seems to be the most viable solution.”
In her Tuesday filing, Blanche argued that Merchan’s interpretation of presidential immunity was flawed and should extend to an elected president during “the complex and sensitive process of presidential transition.”
“It is unconstitutional to issue a criminal conviction against the President-elect during a presidential transition, and it threatens to disrupt that transition and undermine the new President’s ability to effectively exercise the executive power of the United States,” Blanche wrote.
Trump’s lawyers are also challenging the judge’s earlier ruling rejecting Trump’s argument that the case should be thrown out because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last July that granted presidents broad immunity from prosecutions.
Manhattan prosecutors pushed for the sentencing to proceed as scheduled, “given the strong public interest in speedy prosecutions and the finality of criminal proceedings.”
Trump was convicted last May of an alleged scheme to conceal a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 campaign, to prevent him from publicly disclosing his allegations that she had sex with him years earlier. He says his story is false and he did nothing wrong.
The case centered on how Trump repaid his then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, who made the payment to Daniels. The conviction carried a penalty ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.
Trump’s sentencing was initially set for July 11, then postponed twice at the request of the defense. After Trump’s election on November 5, Merchan again delayed sentencing so that the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.