On the same day Congress certified Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, the former president appealed the upcoming sentencing date made by the judge in his New York criminal case. Trump’s attorneys have argued that sentencing should be paused until his appeals are reviewed.
On Friday, Justice Juan Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the conviction entirely and set a sentencing date of Jan. 10. Initially scheduled for July, the sentencing has been rescheduled multiple times due to conflicts with the election. It will now occur just 10 days before Trump begins his second presidential term.
“As the parties are aware, it was on Defendant’s application, without opposition from the People, that sentence was adjourned until after the Presidential election. Any claim Defendant may have that circumstances have changed as a result of Defendant’s victory in the Presidential election, while convenient, is disingenuous,” Merchan’s Friday filing said.
“Thus, it was fair for this Court to trust that his request to adjourn sentencing until after the election carried with it the implied consent that he would face sentence during the window between the election and the taking of the oath of office. The Supreme Court’s decision in Trump has delayed sentence — not precluded it.”
Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney in the criminal case in which a New York jury found him guilty on all 34 criminal counts, responded Monday morning with a last-minute request to stay the sentencing. One reason is that it would distract from the inauguration and his presidential duties.
“The Court should vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all further deadlines in the case until President Trump’s immunity appeals are fully and finally resolved, which should result in a dismissal of this case, which should have never been brought in the first place,” Trump’s lawyers said in their court filing.
“This Court’s decision to schedule a sentencing hearing on January l0, 2025, at the apex of Presidential transition and ten days before President Trump assumes Office, necessitates that President Trump will be forced to continue to defend his criminal case while he is in Office.”
If the sentencing date proceeds, Trump will become the first U.S. president who is a convicted felon.
However, given Trump’s presidential victory against Vice President Kamala Harris, Merchan has said he will not sentence him to prison but will instead grant an “unconditional discharge,” meaning no punishment will be enforced.
“Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s witch hunt. The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed,” incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News.
“The American people elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining witch hunts. We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again,” he added.
Merchan has said in a previous filing that the argument of presidential immunity does not hold up in the “hush money” case. The case stems from payments labeled as business expenses made ahead of his presidential win in 2016 to keep adult film actress Stormy Daniels quiet about a sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump back in 2004.
If Merchan does not respond with a stay in the sentencing, Trump attorneys said in their filings they would “seek an emergency appellate review.”