Trump asks the Supreme Court to block sentencing in his hush money case in New York
Jan 8, 2025, 7:23 AM
FILE - Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool, File)
(AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to call off Friday’s sentencing in his hush money case in New York.
Trump’s lawyers turned to the nation’s highest court on Wednesday after New York courts refused to postpone the sentencing by Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial and conviction last May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Trump has denied wrongdoing.
The justices asked for a response from prosecutors by Thursday.
Trump’s team sought an immediate stay of the scheduled sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
The emergency motion is from lawyers John Sauer, Trump’s pick for solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court, and Todd Blanche, in line to be the second-ranking official at the Justice Department.
The Republican president-elect’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, called for the case to be dismissed in a statement. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it will respond in court papers.
Merchan has indicated he will not impose jail time, fines or probation. Trump’s convictions arose from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it.
Trump’s attorneys have pointed to the Supreme Court’s ruling giving him broad immunity from criminal prosecution as they tried to have his New York conviction tossed out.
While that opinion came in a separate election interference case against him, Trump’s lawyers say it means some of the evidence used against him in his hush money trial should have been shielded by presidential immunity. That includes testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made while he was in office.
Merchan has disagreed, finding they would qualify as personal business. The Supreme Court’s immunity decision was largely about official acts of presidents while in office.
Contributing: Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York
