Nov. 19 (UPI) — A decision is due Tuesday for New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan over what will happen next in the hush money case against President-elect Donald Trump.
Merchan pushed back his decision on how sentencing will proceed a week ago. Trump is still scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26, a week away.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted the case, will offer what he believes should happen next, given Trump’s re-election. Trump is convicted on 34 felony counts for business fraud in connection with hiding hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s attorney Emil Bove argued last week that the case should be stayed or dismissed to “avoid unconstitutional impediments” to Trump’s ability to act as president.
Trump’s defense attorneys across multiple cases pushed to keep his cases on hold until after the election with the hope that he would be re-elected. That has come to pass, giving Trump the authority to dismiss the federal cases against him.
That does not apply to this case or the case against him over conspiracy to subvert the results of the election in Fulton County, Ga.
Bragg’s office has also maintained that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to back Trump’s claims of broad presidential immunity should not apply to this case. Presidential immunity is meant to shield a president from being prosecuted for carrying out his roles as president. The charges against Trump stem from acts undertaken while he was first campaigning for president in 2016 and continuing into his first term.
However the prosecution has not publicly weighed in on the impact of Trump’s reelection.
“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” Matthew Colangelo, a prosecuting attorney with Bragg’s office, said during last week’s hearing.