Donald Trump really does not want to his sentencing hearing for his 34 felony convictions to occur on its scheduled date of January 10. Probably because once he’s sentenced – even if there’s no prison time or other penalty doled out – he will be set to become the first felon to take the office of president. Last week, Trump’s lawyers asked Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the trial ,to postpone the sentencing. The judge said no. So, today, Trump’s lawyers went to an appeals court asking for the proceedings to be temporarily blocked. They got a quick ‘no.’
President-elect Trump on Tuesday intensified a last-minute effort to avoid his criminal sentencing in New York, urging an appeals court to intervene and halt the proceeding before he is inaugurated. He would be the first felon elected to the Oval Office. [image or embed]
— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) January 7, 2025 at 9:08 AM
From the New York Times:
His lawyers argued that Mr. Trump was entitled to full immunity from prosecution, and even sentencing, now that he was the president-elect.
The emergency application fell to a single appellate court judge, Ellen Gesmer, who held a brief hearing on Tuesday before denying Mr. Trump’s request within a half-hour.
At the hearing, Justice Gesmer appeared highly skeptical of Mr. Trump’s arguments, grilling Mr. Trump’s lawyer about whether he had “any support for a notion that presidential immunity extends to president-elects?”
The lawyer, Todd Blanche, conceded that he did not, saying: “There has never been a case like this before.”
Team Trump could (and probably will) head to a federal court next to stop the sentencing. And if that fails, race to the Supreme Court as a final ‘Hail Mary,’ but time is definitely running out.
Trump’s motion to delay his sentencing has been DENIED. I imagine Trump will appeal to New York’s highest court now.
— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) January 7, 2025 at 10:55 AM
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