President-elect Donald Trump asked a judge on Monday to halt this week’s sentencing in his hush money case while they appeal a ruling upholding the verdict.
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Trump’s lawyers said they plan to ask a state appeal court to reverse Judge Juan M. Merchan decision last week, which set the case for sentencing on Friday.
Merchan rejected Trump’s bid to throw out the verdict and dismiss the indictment in light of his impending return to the White House.
Trump’s lawyers argued that their appeal should trigger what’s known as an automatic stay, or pause, in the proceedings. If that doesn’t happen, they argued, Merchan should then grant a pause and prevent sentencing from happening on Friday as scheduled.
In his decision last week, the judge signalled he is not likely to sentence Trump, a Republican, to any punishment for his historic conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
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While Trump asserted that presidential immunity and his looming second term necessitated nixing the verdict, Merchan wrote in his January 3 ruling that only “bringing finality to this matter” by sentencing Trump would serve the interests of justice.
