As Trump’s September 18 sentencing in his hush-money trial approaches, here’s where his legal team’s attempts to delay the hearing currently stand.
Donald Trump won’t be sentenced before Election Day in his Manhattan criminal trial, Judge Juan Merchan ruled on Friday. It amounts to a win for the former president’s legal team that has repeatedly tried to delay or move the proceedings after their client was found guilty in May of 34 counts felony counts, making him the first U.S. president in history to be convicted of a crime. A new sentencing hearing has been scheduled for November 26. This is how we got here.
How did this start?
Back in April 2023, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled his office’s indictment accusing the former president of falsifying business records in connection to an election-year cover-up of an alleged past affair with Stormy Daniels. Trump has long denied that an affair ever occurred and pleaded not guilty in the matter. Despite numerous legal challenges, the trial commenced one year later, featuring weeks of testimony from former Trump insiders such as former White House aide Hope Hicks and his ex-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen. But the 12-member jury would go on to convict Trump on all 34 counts on their second day of deliberations, with Merchan initially scheduling his sentencing for July.
How has Trump’s legal team responded?
With Trump in the middle of another bid for the White House, he and his legal team have sought to delay his sentencing with the aim of overturning his conviction entirely. Their latest weapon came in June as the Supreme Court issued its decision on presidential immunity, ruling that past and future presidents couldn’t be prosecuted for official acts taken while in office but could face repercussions for private acts.
