In the ongoing hush money trial involving former President Donald Trump, the judge handling the case has decided to delay ruling on presidential immunity until September 16. This decision comes after Trump’s legal team requested Judge Juan M. Merchan to first rule on their motion for him to step aside from the case. Originally, the immunity ruling was set for September 6, with the sentencing planned for September 18, but these dates have now been adjusted.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, responsible for prosecuting the case, along with Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, have both refrained from commenting on the matter. Trump was found guilty in May of manipulating business records to conceal a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election. The payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen and later reimbursed by Trump.
The defense team argues that the guilty verdict should be overturned based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in July regarding presidential immunity. They maintain that certain evidence presented during the trial, such as testimony from White House staff and tweets from Trump during his presidency, should not have been allowed. The prosecution, however, insists that the high court’s ruling does not apply to this case as it involves unofficial acts for which the former president is not immune.
Additionally, Trump’s lawyers have once again requested Judge Merchan to recuse himself from the case, pointing to his daughter’s previous work for Vice President Kamala Harris as a potential conflict of interest. Despite rejecting similar requests in the past, the judge will review this latest motion. The hush money case is just one of four criminal prosecutions Trump is facing, with a federal case related to classified documents at Mar-a-Lago being recently dismissed.
The other cases, including federal and Georgia state prosecutions tied to Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, are not expected to proceed to trial before the upcoming November election.
