Judge Postpones Trump's Hush Money Sentencing Until After The Election

After months of delays, a New York judge set a sentencing date Friday for former President Donald Trump, who was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star in the waning days of the 2016 presidential election.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan set a new sentencing date for Nov. 26, after the 2024 presidential election.

Merchan explained his rationale in a letter to the legal counsel, acknowledging that sentencing a former president who’s currently seeking office again is “fraught with complexities.”

He decided to postpone the hearing, he said, to avoid any appearance of “giving advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for” Trump.

Merchan further emphasized he wanted “to avoid any appearance ― however unwarranted ― that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.”

Trump seized on the decision in an attempt to undercut the case itself, completely ignoring the fact that he’s already been tried and convicted.

Sentencing “has been postponed because everyone realizes that there was NO CASE, I DID NOTHING WRONG!” Trump wrote in a post on social media.

He further described the trial as “a political attack” and “a case that should have never been brought.”

Merchan has already delayed the sentencing once.

Trump was initially going to be sentenced July 11. But Merchan pushed the date back to Sept. 18 after Trump’s lawyers urged him to reconsider the verdict in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling that presidents are immune from prosecution for “official” acts.

Merchan said he would issue a ruling on that argument by Sept. 16.

Trump has repeatedly sought