Trump seeks to block New York hush money sentencing

Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump sought to block his scheduled sentencing later this week in a New York criminal hush money case, according to a new court motion.

Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan in the motion made public Monday that they will appeal his ruling denying their efforts to dismiss the criminal case.

The motion argues that the appeal should automatically stay the sentencing, which is scheduled for Friday, and that if Merchan does not agree he nonetheless should grant Trump an immediate stay of that proceeding pending the outcome of the appeal. That appeal could take months to resolve.

Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May, related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the presidential election that year.

Merchan last week said that he was not inclined to sentence Trump to jail in the case, and also suggested he would impose a sentence that does not include either probation or a fine.

On the same day, Merchan rejected arguments that he should toss out the case in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said presidents have presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts while serving in the White House, and because of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

In a statement Monday, Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt.”

“The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” Cheung said.

Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as president for his second non-consecutive term in the White House on Jan. 20.