New York court denies Trump a stay of sentencing before inauguration
Kyiv • UNN
A New York appeals court has denied Trump's request for a stay of sentencing in the bribes-for-silence case. Sentencing will take place on Friday, 10 days before his inauguration.
A New York appeals court judge denied President-elect Donald Trump's request to delay his sentencing Friday in the hush money bribe case, reports UNN citing CNN.
Supreme Court Justice Ellen Gesmer, a member of the Supreme Court, quickly denied Trump's request after a brief hearing on the matter Tuesday afternoon.
Trump on Tuesday asked for a stay of the hush-money bribery trial - including his sentencing scheduled for Friday - while he appeals his conviction after Judge Juan Merchan, the trial judge, rejected his request to halt sentencing.
Trump's lawyer Todd Blanch - chosen by the president-elect to serve as deputy attorney general in his new administration - told New York's Appellate Division, First Department on Tuesday that it must stop Trump's sentencing, acknowledging that the situation is unprecedented.
Blanch said the Supreme Court's July ruling on presidential immunity provides Trump with constitutional protections. While Merchan rejected two arguments for overturning Trump's conviction, Blanch argued that either argument should allow them to stay the proceedings while the appeal is heard.
Jesmer, who presided over the hearing, asked Blanch if there was precedent for his request that presidential immunity could extend to the president-elect.
“It's never happened before, so no,” Blanche replied.
The head of the Manhattan District Attorney's appellate division, Steven Wu, said Trump's attorneys made no argument that an hour-long sentencing hearing would violate Trump's duties as president-elect, saying, “Sentencing has to be done at some point, right?”
A little background: Trump is appealing his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, arguing that it should be overturned because of the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity and because Trump is now the president-elect.
Merchan rejected both of those arguments, setting sentencing for Friday and prompting Trump's lawyers to appeal to an appeals court to try to stop the sentencing. However, Merchan has made it clear that he will not sentence Trump to any punishment.
