A judge confirmed Friday that President-elect Donald Trump will not be sentenced this month in his hush money case, instead setting a timetable for prosecutors and his lawyers to expand on their ideas about what to do next.
Following a flood of documents filed in the case since Trump’s election victory this month, It had already been clear that the sentencing date of November 26 would not stand.. Judge Juan M. Merchan’s order on Friday formalized that without setting a new one.
Merchan called for both sides to submit additional documents over the next 2 1/2 weeks on how to proceed in light of Trump’s imminent return to the White House.
Trump’s lawyers want the case to be dismissed entirely, and immediately. They have said that otherwise it will interfere with their presidential transition and duties.
Prosecutors have indicated they are open to putting the case on hold, perhaps while he is in office, but do not want it to be dropped entirely.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, has said the solution needs to balance the obligations of the presidency with “the sanctity of the jury’s verdict.”
Optimism among Trump allies
Bragg’s office declined to comment on Friday’s ruling. Trump spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung hailed it as “a decisive victory” for Trump.
Trump, a Republican, was convicted in May of falsifying his company records to disguise the true nature of a series of payments that provided $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels. She received it, through Trump’s then-lawyer, in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
The payment was intended to maintain her silence about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump a decade ago, when he was married. Trump denies the accusation and says he did nothing wrong.
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