A New York appeals court rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s request to halt the sentencing in his hush-money case scheduled for Friday after a Tuesday hearing.
Associate Judge Ellen Gesmer, a judge in the state’s appellate division, wrote that after considering Trump’s paperwork and “extensive oral argument,” she denied his request for a temporary delay in sentencing.
Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to hide payments to a porn actress. Trump’s lawyers contend the case should be dismissed because of presidential immunity or at least that the sentencing be postponed until after appeals have been resolved.
“Do you have any support for the notion that presidential immunity extends to a president-elect?” Gesmer asked.
“There has never been a case like this before, so no,” responded Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche.
Blanche had argued that immunity shielding sitting presidents from criminal charges for official acts while in office extends to the transition period between an election and inauguration. But because Trump is the first former president ever charged criminally or convicted, immunity remains largely untested in court.
The appeals hearing came a day after Judge Juan Merchan rejected a request to delay the sentencing while the case is appealed. Merchan rejected Trump’s request Friday to dismiss the case as well. Trump argued he was shielded from charges as a former president.
Merchan said the best way to bring finality to the case was to sentence Trump without prison time, fine or probation while his appeals continued. Merchan wrote that Trump’s request for a delay was mostly “a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past.”
Trump contends the Supreme Court’s July decision that shielded former presidents from criminal charges for official acts in office made Trump immune from the New York case. Merchan ruled that the case dealt with his personal conduct.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump paid his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in turn paid a porn actress, Stormy Daniels, to remain silent before the 2016 election about an alleged sexual encounter.
The court battle is playing out during the two weeks before Trump’s inauguration to return to the White House on Jan. 20. The appeal went to what is called the appellate division of the first judicial department in New York state court.
Blanche, who was designated to become the deputy attorney general in his administration, argued that the immunity should extend to the transition before returning to office.
“Merchan is without authority under the law to proceed to sentencing while President Trump exercises his federal constitutional right to challenge these rulings, and the erroneous jury verdict in the underlying criminal case must be vacated and the charges against President Trump must be dismissed with prejudice, without further delay,” Blanche wrote.
(This article has been updated to include new information.)
