Manhattan prosecutors have rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to delay post-trial decisions in his New York hush money criminal case. Trump is seeking to have a federal court intervene and potentially overturn his felony conviction. The prosecutors stated that they may consider postponing the former president’s sentencing, which is scheduled for September 18th.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office contended in a letter to the trial judge that there is no legal requirement to hold off on post-trial decisions. Trump had requested the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to take control of the case, where it was originally tried in state court.
The prosecutors urged the judge not to delay rulings on two critical defense requests made by Trump. These requests include a call to postpone sentencing until after the November election and an attempt to overturn the verdict based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn actor. This payment was made to silence her affair allegations that could have affected his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo reiterated in a letter on Tuesday that prosecutors have not taken a stance on whether sentencing should be delayed, leaving it to the judge to determine an appropriate post-trial schedule.
If the case is moved to federal court, Trump’s lawyers plan to seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds. The Supreme Court’s ruling on July 1 aimed to limit prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restrict prosecutors from using official acts as evidence of a president’s unofficial actions being illegal.
Trump’s legal team argued that jurors were shown evidence that should not have been permitted under the Supreme Court ruling, including information on how Trump reacted to news coverage of the hush money deal and tweets he posted during his presidency in 2018.
