Judge postpones Trump sentencing for New York hush money conviction until after November election

Judge Juan Merchan announced Friday that he would postpone handing down former President Donald Trump’s sentence in the New York hush money trial until after the November election.

Merchan said Trump’s sentencing, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18, would be moved to Nov. 26, meaning that voters will head to the polls on Nov. 5 without knowing whether the judge could require Trump to go to jail after being found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

“This is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court’s view, best advances the interests of justice,” Merchan wrote in a four-page ruling, adding, “This matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation’s history.”

Trump still faces a maximum prison sentence of four years behind bars, though most experts believe that Merchan will issue a lesser punishment. But that decision will now come after the nation decides the next presidential election.

The delay, Merchan wrote, “should dispel any suggestion that the court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create disadvantage for, any political party.”

In May, a Manhattan jury handed down its guilty verdicts stemming from Trump’s efforts to obscure a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Merchan initially delayed a July 11 sentencing hearing in the case so that the Supreme Court could rule on the question of whether presidential immunity protected Trump from prosecution.

Trump’s lawyers, who have appealed the verdict in the case, had argued that the sentencing should be moved so as not to conflict with Election Day.

“By adjourning the sentencing until after that election — which is of paramount importance to the entire nation,” the lawyers said in a court filing, “the court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.”