https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/06/politics/judge-delays-trumps-sentencing/index.htmlFormer President Donald Trump will not be sentenced in his New York criminal case until after the 2024 election, Judge Juan Merchan announced Friday, explaining that his decision to delay the sentencing is in part to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the presidential race.
Merchan wrote in a new four-page letter that he would sentence Trump on November 26 – if necessary – in response to a request from Trump’s lawyers to push back the sentencing.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult-film star alleging an affair with the former president. But Trump’s sentencing has been on hold for months after Trump’s lawyers pushed to have the conviction tossed because of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Merchan noted the upcoming presidential election in his decision to delay sentencing, saying that part of his reason for doing so was to avoid the appearance that the sentencing was intended to influence the November election.
“Adjourning decision on the motion and sentencing, if such is required, should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party and or any candidate for any office,” Merchan wrote.
