Trump asks court to postpone sentencing ahead of inauguration

President-elect Donald Trump has asked a New York judge to halt the sentencing in his felony hush money case, which is scheduled for 10 January.

His lawyers announced on Monday that Trump would appeal the decision by Justice Juan Merchan ordering that the sentencing would proceed.

In court filings, Trump’s attorneys wrote they would seek “a dismissal of this politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning”.

Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May 2024, making him the first former president convicted of a crime.

The charges stemmed from Trump’s attempt to disguise reimbursements for a hush money payment to an adult film star as legal expenses.

Trump pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers said that filing an appeal should halt the criminal proceedings in his New York case.

The sentencing had been delayed repeatedly by the 2024 presidential election and Trump’s attempt to have the case thrown out based on a claim of presidential immunity. Justice Merchan ultimately rejected the immunity argument in December.

On 3 January, Justice Merchan issued an order saying he would move ahead with the sentencing before Trump took office, but wrote that he would not consider any sentence of incarceration.

He ordered Trump to appear virtually or in-person for the hearing.

“The American People elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponisation of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts,” said Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s presidential transition.

Trump’s team has not publicly commented on whether the president-elect will be in court, but in its response Monday afternoon to the request for a stay, the Manhattan district attorney’s office referred to “defendant’s decision to appear for sentencing virtually instead of in person”. The reference to a virtual hearing was repeated again several pages later.

In the response, the district attorney asked the judge to deny Trump’s request for an immediate stay of his sentencing, and argued he would not be prejudiced by such a decision.

The weeks after the election featured a flurry of legal filings from both Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, and Trump’s legal team.

Bragg’s office had previously indicated that they would not oppose delaying Trump’s sentencing until after he finishes his term in office, four years from now.

But after Justice Merchan decided to move ahead with the sentencing, Bragg has asked the judge to proceed with the sentencing on Friday.

In his order last week, Justice Merchan wrote that “it is this court’s firm belief that only by bringing finality to this matter” will the legal quandaries at play be resolved.

However, the judge left the door open to the possibility that Trump would seek to appeal the sentencing, writing that he “must be permitted to avail himself of every available appeal”.