(AFP) – Donald Trump’s lawyers have requested that a judge push back the US presidential nominee’s sentencing for covering up hush money payments to a porn star until after November’s election. Lawyer Todd Blanche argued that sentencing, scheduled for September 18, does not allow Trump enough time to potentially appeal the outcome of a separate September 16 hearing on presidential immunity arising from a Supreme Court ruling. In a letter to the judge Wednesday, Blanche also argued that “there is no basis for continuing to rush” — other than unspecified “naked election-interference objectives.”
Trump was convicted by a New York jury in May of 34 counts of doctoring business records to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to stop her disclosing an alleged affair. He became the first former president ever convicted of a crime. “Sentencing is currently scheduled to occur after the commencement of early voting in the Presidential election,” Blanche wrote to the court. “By adjourning the sentencing until after that election… the Court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.”
On Wednesday, Trump failed for a third time to force out the judge overseeing the case. Lawyers for the 78-year-old Republican had again argued that the work of Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter for a Democratic-leaning organization created a “perceived conflict of interest” and that he should recuse himself. Merchan rejected this, calling the lawyers’ arguments “nothing more than a repetition of stale and unsubstantiated claims.”
Trump has been doing everything in his power to delay multiple trials against him until after the November 5 election. He faces charges in Washington and the state of Georgia related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
© 2024 AFP
