In the New York trial over former President Donald Trump’s hush money payments, the sentence will not be announced until after the presidential election. Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request and set the new date for November 26, according to court documents. The sentence had previously been expected to be set for September 18.
Trump has thus achieved a significant success in the race for the White House. He has managed to delay a sentence that could have damaged him in the election. The 78-year-old had argued that a decision on the sentence just a few weeks before the election on November 5 could affect the integrity of the vote.
Judge Merchan wrote in his decision: “This case is unique and occupies a unique place in the history of this nation.” Sentencing is being adjourned “to avoid any appearance, however unjustified, that the proceedings have influenced or are attempting to influence the upcoming presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate.”
The court is a fair, impartial and non-political institution, said Merchan. There should be no suspicion that the court makes a decision to harm or help someone politically.
Prison threatens in the worst case
The delay means that Americans will go to the polls in early November without knowing whether Trump, who has already been found guilty, will go to prison or not.
In the event of a victory over the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, the determination of the sentence could be further delayed. In the worst case scenario, Trump faces a prison sentence of several years. However, some observers believe a suspended sentence is more likely.
At the end of May, a jury in New York found the former president guilty of 34 charges. The trial concerned the illegal concealment of hush money payments to a porn actress in order to gain advantages in the 2016 election campaign. It was the first time in the history of the United States that a former president was convicted of a crime.
Groundbreaking Supreme Court decision as a lever
Trump’s lawyers also used another application for the 78-year-old’s alleged immunity following a corresponding landmark ruling by the Supreme Court as leverage. Merchan set the decision for November 12. If he also agrees to this application, which observers see as rather unlikely, the process would probably have to be reopened.
At the beginning of July, the US Supreme Court, with its right-wing conservative majority, ruled that Trump enjoys immunity for certain official acts. Trump is using this historic decision to stop the various proceedings against him.
While the New York hush money case is different in nature because it primarily revolves around Trump’s actions as a presidential candidate before the 2016 election, the Supreme Court’s ruling also states that official acts of U.S. presidents cannot be cited as evidence in criminal proceedings. Trump’s lawyers argue that the prosecution in the case also relied on evidence from Trump’s time in the White House.
The Supreme Court’s groundbreaking immunity ruling has already led to prosecutors revising the indictment in the case of attempted electoral fraud in the US capital Washington.
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