Trump seeks delay in hush money trial sentencing until after November election

Donald Trump is seeking to have the sentencing in his hush money trial delayed until after the election in November.

The former president’s attorneys argue in a letter that the current sentencing being scheduled for September 18 progresses prosecutors’ “election-interference objectives.”

The sentencing was originally set for July 11 but Judge Juan Merchan initially delayed it after the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. Merchan said he would issue a ruling on the immunity claim two days before the September sentencing.

Trump’s legal team wrote in a letter sent to Merchan on Thursday that the “timing illustrates just how unreasonable it is to have the potential for only a single day between a decision on first-impression Presidential immunity issues and an unprecedented and unwarranted sentencing.”

The former president’s lawyers noted that the sentencing is currently set to begin after the start of early voting, arguing that delaying the sentencing until after the election would clear up “issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.”

“Finally, setting aside naked election-interference objectives, there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar,” Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote. “There is no basis for continuing to rush. Accordingly, we respectfully request that any sentencing, if one is needed, be adjourned until after the Presidential election.”

The request to delay sentencing comes just a day after theTrump team failed to kick Merchan off the case for a third time.

Merchan rejected the recusal motion in a late filing on Tuesday. The Trump legal team has argued that there’s a conflict of interest as Merchan’s daughter is a political