NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s request to halt postconviction proceedings in his hush-money lawsuit, keeping a key ruling and the former president’s sentencing on track for after the November election.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan cited Trump’s sentencing delay last week from Sept. 18 to Nov. 26 to deny his request for an emergency stay.
The stay of the ruling, which Trump had requested, meant that the appeals court no longer had sufficient urgency to consider staying the proceedings.
Messages seeking comment were left with Trump’s lawyers and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.
Trump appealed to the 2nd Circuit after a federal judge last week denied the Republican nominee’s request to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan take control of the case from the state court where it was being heard.
Trump’s lawyers said they wanted the case moved to federal court so they could then seek to have the verdict and case dismissed on immunity grounds.
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, announced the postponement last Friday and said he now plans to rule on Trump’s request to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case on Nov. 12 because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity.
Merchan explained that he was delaying the sentencing to avoid the appearance that the proceedings were “influenced by or intended to influence the upcoming presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate.”
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies Daniels’ claim that she and Trump had a sexual encounter a decade earlier and says he did nothing wrong.
Falsifying corporate records carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison. Other possible penalties include probation, a fine or conditional release, with Trump required to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment.
