Trump sentencing in hush money case is postponed until September after Supreme Court immunity ruling

CNN —

Donald Trump will not be sentenced on his business fraud conviction until September, a New York judge ruled Tuesday in the wake of Monday’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity.

The delay in sentencing means that the former president is likely to escape any concrete punishment for his felony conviction during the summer, at the same time that Trump’s election bid has been boosted by President Joe Biden’s debate flop that has Democrats wondering whether to replace their nominee.

President Donald Trump talks with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts as Associate Justice Elena Kagan looks on before the State of the Union address in the House chamber on February 4, 2020 in Washington, DC.

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Trump was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. Judge Juan Merchan said the former president will now be sentenced on September 18, “if such is still necessary.”

The announcement underscores the far-reaching implications of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, in which the court’s conservative wing found that presidents have absolute immunity for “core” presidential duties.

The decision has thrown special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Trump on election subversion charges into doubt – and a trial before the November election is all but impossible now. The ruling could impact the indictments of Trump in the classified documents and Georgia election interference cases as well.

Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of a felony in May when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his hush money criminal trial.

Trump’s legal team filed a letter Monday seeking to challenge