Former President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference on May 31, 2024, after being found guilty in his hush money trial, making him the first former president to be convicted of crimes.

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A New York judge on Friday postponed sentencing in the criminal case against former President Donald Trump to ensure that the court is viewed as politically impartial.

Judge Juan Merchan set the new sentencing date for November 26, a few weeks after the election. Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal payments to a porn star.

“The sentencing is adjourned to avoid any appearance, however unjustified, that the proceedings have been influenced or are attempting to be influenced by the upcoming presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate,” Merchan said in his ruling. “The court is a fair, impartial and non-political institution.”

Merchan also postponed the hearing on whether to overturn the criminal conviction in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity and other evidence. The hearing is now scheduled for November 12.

The Supreme Court’s July 1 decision came after Trump was convicted in New York – but before he announced the sentence. The timing completely disrupted what was already an unprecedented conviction of a former president and current Republican presidential candidate.

Trump’s lawyers say the Supreme Court’s decision means his case, brought by Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, should be fully resolved.

“The witch hunt against the Manhattan District Attorney has been postponed because everyone is clear that there was NO CASE, I DID NOTHING WRONG!” Trump posted on the website Truth Social. “This is a political attack against me.”

Trump’s lawyers argued that various testimony, including that of former White House staff, and evidence, such as statements made during his term in office, violated the Supreme Court’s ruling that presidents enjoy immunity for their official acts.

His lawyers have spent the summer trying to mitigate the case’s impact on the election, including by accusing Merchan of political bias. They asked Merchan to overturn the verdict, appealed, and sought to delay sentencing until after the election, depose Merchan, and move the case to federal court.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney, Danielle Filson, said prosecutors were “ready to announce the verdict on the new date set by the court.”

“A jury of 12 New Yorkers quickly and unanimously found Donald Trump guilty on 34 counts,” she said in a statement.

Fundraising tool

In May, a jury in New York agreed that Trump falsified business records to conceal the payment of $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and thus influence the 2016 presidential election.

Even without a stay of his sentence, Trump attempted to use the conviction as a fundraising tool. Within 24 hours of the guilty verdict, Trump’s campaign was boasting about raising millions of dollars. Since he was officially named the Republican presidential nominee, he has continued to speak about the trials at various campaign events.

The jury heard from 22 witnesses during about four weeks of testimony in Manhattan criminal court. Jurors also reviewed other evidence – mainly documents such as phone records, invoices and checks written to Michael Cohen, Trump’s once-loyal “fixer” who paid Daniels to keep her story about an alleged affair with the former president secret.

The facts regarding the payments and invoices identified as legal services were undisputed.

What prosecutors had to prove was that Trump had falsified the records to commit another crime – in this case, a violation of New York’s election law, which criminalizes “two or more persons conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to public office by any unlawful means.”

The jury could decide whether these illicit means constituted a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act, the falsification of tax returns or the falsification of other business documents.

The verdict came more than a year after a grand jury indicted Trump on March 30, 2023. It was the first time a former or sitting president had been criminally charged.

— With the support of Franco Ordoñez.