NEW YORK (AP) — Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday fiercely opposed Donald Trump’s effort to delay post-trial decisions in his New York hush-money case as he seeks a federal court to intervene and potentially overturn his felony conviction. But they said they would be OK with delaying the former president’s Sept. 18 sentencing.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said in a letter to the judge that he is not legally obligated to delay post-trial decisions after Trump last week asked the U.S. District Court in Manhattan to take over the case from the state court where it was being heard.
Prosecutors urged the judge, Juan M. Merchan, not to delay ruling on two key defense requests: Trump’s call to delay sentencing until after the November election, and his attempt to overturn the conviction and dismiss the case following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity.
Merchan has said he will rule on Trump’s motion to overturn the conviction on Sept. 16. His decision on whether to delay sentencing is expected in the coming days.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felonies, including falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose affair allegations threatened to derail his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump has denied her claim and said he did nothing wrong.
Falsification of business data is punishable by up to four years in prison. Other possible penalties include probation or a fine.
In a letter Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo reiterated that prosecutors have not yet taken a position on whether sentencing should be delayed and that Merchan should be provided with “appropriate posttrial scheduling.”
Trump’s lawyers have argued that sentencing as scheduled, just two days after Merchan’s expected immunity decision, would not give Trump enough time to consider next steps — including a possible appeal — if Merchan decides to uphold the sentence.
They also argued that convicting Trump on September 18, some seven weeks before Election Day, would constitute election interference, meaning Trump could be sent to prison as early voting gets underway.
Colangelo said Tuesday that prosecutors are open to a schedule that would allow “sufficient time” to consider Trump’s motion to overturn the verdict while sentencing him “without unreasonable delay.”
In a letter to Merchan last week, Trump’s lawyers said delaying the proceedings is the “only appropriate course of action” as they seek to have the federal court vacate a ruling they say was tainted by violations of the Republican presidential nominee’s constitutional rights and the Supreme Court’s ruling that gives former presidents broad protections from prosecution.
If the case is moved to federal court, Trump’s lawyers said they will seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed on immunity grounds. On Friday, the federal court denied Trump’s request to hear the case, citing technicalities. His lawyers will have a chance to refile it.
The Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling limits the prosecution of former presidents for official acts and limits the ability of prosecutors to use official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial acts were illegal.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that prosecutors rushed to trial instead of waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on presidential immunity. They also say prosecutors erred by showing the jury evidence that should not have been allowed under the ruling, including former White House staffers describing Trump’s responses to news coverage of the gag order and tweets he sent as president in 2018.
Trump’s lawyers had already invoked presidential immunity last year in a failed attempt to move the hush-money case from state court to federal court.
