Lawyers for Donald Trump have asked the judge presiding over his hush money case to delay his upcoming sentencing until after the presidential election in November, according to court filings made public Thursday.
“Sentencing is currently scheduled to occur after the commencement of early voting in the Presidential election,” Todd Blanche wrote in a letter to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Wednesday.
Trump’s lawyers argued that postponing the sentencing until after all voters have been to the polls “would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.”
The letter came a day after the judge refused Trump’s third request to withdraw from the case because Merchan’s daughter works as a Democratic political consultant.
Blanche argued that a delay would also give Trump time to weigh his appeal options after Merchan responds to his request to vacate his conviction based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, should he deny it.
Trump has argued that the July 1 ruling by the court’s conservative supermajority, which found that presidents are shielded from criminal liability for most “official” acts, prohibited prosecutors from showing evidence dating to his time in office and should nullify the verdict.
Merchan is expected to rule on the immunity argument on Sept. 16 — right before Trump’s Sept. 18 sentencing, which was initially slated to go forward in July until the judge adjourned it following the bombshell ruling by the nation’s high court.
“That timing illustrates just how unreasonable it is to have the potential for only a single day between a decision on first-impression Presidential immunity issues and an unprecedented and unwarranted sentencing,” Blanche wrote, lobbing accusations of “naked election-interference objectives.”
“[There] is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar. There is no basis for continuing to rush.”
Trump, 78, was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records on May 30, charges carrying up to four years in prison or a term of probation. The case centered on his reimbursement to Michael Cohen for paying off porn star Stormy Daniels 11 days before the 2016 election as part of a broader scheme to hide unflattering information about his sexual history from the voting public.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment.
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