Trump’s Silence Prosecutors Agree to Delay Sentencing

NEW YORK >> Donald Trump’s July 11 sentencing on bribery charges he paid to a porn star could be delayed after prosecutors said today they would not object to giving the former U.S. president a chance to argue that he should be protected from prosecution.

Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked to be allowed to argue that the conviction, issued in New York state court in Manhattan, should be overturned because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that presidents are entitled to immunity from prosecution for official actions.

Trump will have a tough time fighting to overturn his conviction because much of the conduct at issue in the case occurred before he was in office. But prosecutors’ agreement to delay sentencing makes it more likely that Judge Juan Merchan will move up the date and consider the immunity argument.

Any delay in sentencing would raise the possibility that Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, could be imprisoned just days before the Republican National Convention opens in Milwaukee on July 15.

In a landmark ruling Monday, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-3 to say that Trump cannot be prosecuted for any actions that fall within his constitutional powers as president, but he can be prosecuted for actions outside his official capacity.

The decision all but guaranteed that Trump will not face trial before the Nov. 5 election on separate federal criminal charges related to his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. Trump has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

In a letter to Merchan, Trump’s lawyers argued that prosecutors introduced evidence from Trump’s official actions while he was president during his trial on charges that he covered up a $130,000 payment his former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

“The outcome of the trial cannot remain unchanged,” attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a letter asking for a full brief to be filed by July 10.

In a response today, prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said Trump’s argument was “baseless” but had no problem giving Trump an opportunity to present his case. They asked for until July 24 to respond to the defense’s full motion.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and has said he will appeal his May 30 conviction — the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president, current or former — after the verdict is announced.

Prosecutors said Trump ordered Cohen to pay him in October 2016 to keep Daniels secret about the alleged 2006 sexual encounter until after the November 2016 presidential election, when he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.

“A purely personal matter”

According to a Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors cannot use evidence related to official actions to prove crimes involving unofficial actions.

Trump’s lawyers have said evidence presented at the hush-money hearing about conversations Trump had at the White House and social media posts he made while in office constitute official acts.

The posts included tweets from April 21, 2018, in which Trump called Cohen a “wonderful person with a wonderful family” and predicted that he would “not go crazy.”

The jury also saw an Aug. 22, 2018, tweet — after Cohen pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance law through his payment to Daniels — in which Trump wrote, “If anyone is looking for a good lawyer, I strongly advise against hiring Michael Cohen!”

“This evidence of official documents should never have been presented to a jury,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

Trump made a similar argument last year in an unsuccessful bid to move his hush money case to federal court. In denying Trump’s motion in July 2023, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein wrote that the payment to Daniels “was a purely personal matter.”

“The hush money paid to an adult film star has no connection with the president’s official activities,” Hellerstein wrote.

Trump’s lawyers appealed Hellerstein’s decision but later dropped their efforts.