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Donald Trump’s sentencing hearing in the Manhattan “hush money” case has been pushed back to September 18, as he seeks to set aside the guilty verdict following a US Supreme Court ruling that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for their official acts.
The presumptive Republican nominee, who became the first former president to be convicted of a crime when found guilty on 34 felony counts in May, was originally set to be sentenced on July 11, just days before his party’s convention in Milwaukee.
But following the high court’s ruling on Monday, lawyers for Trump wrote to Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw the Manhattan trial, asking for more time to appeal against the verdict.
They argued that some of the evidence used at trial, including social media posts and public statements, might have been “official acts”, and thus inadmissible under the Supreme Court’s decision.
To allow time for a fuller briefing and arguments on the matter, Merchan agreed to postpone the sentencing for more than three months. He said he would rule on the immunity question on September 6.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, led by Alvin Bragg, said in a letter earlier on Tuesday that despite its view that the former president’s arguments are “without merit”, it did not oppose the request for a delay.
The postponement of the sentencing is yet another legal respite for Trump that could strengthen his political hand with just four months to go until November’s presidential election.
Trump was convicted over a conspiracy to buy the silence of a porn actor who alleged an affair, in the first of four criminal cases against him to go to trial.
The former president had previously lost a push to move the hush money case from state to federal court after a district court judge ruled he had failed to show the conduct at issue in the indictment “is for or relating to any act performed by or for the president under colour of the official acts of a president”.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Monday held former presidents would still be subject to criminal prosecution for their private acts while in office. But it is increasingly unlikely that any of the other three criminal cases pending against Trump will reach trial before election day.
Other indictments accusing Trump of seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election and of mishandling classified documents are facing lengthy delays amid legal wrangling between the former president and prosecutors.
Trump is increasingly seen as the frontrunner heading into November as concerns rise about his Democratic rival, President Joe Biden’s, age and fitness for office following a disastrous debate performance last week.
While few public opinion polls have been conducted since the debate, Trump has a 1.4 point lead nationwide, according to the FiveThirtyEight average, and is ahead in several swing states. The Biden campaign circulated a memo late on Monday showing Trump ahead of the president by two points in the crucial battleground states that are likely to decide the election outcome.
Additional reporting by Joe Miller
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