Jan. 6 (UPI) — New York Judge Juan Merchan on Monday denied President-elect Donald Trump‘s request to delay this week’s sentencing in his criminal hush money case as questions over his immunity remain under appeal.
“This court has considered defendant’s arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous time in the past,” Merchan wrote in the order, rejecting Trump’s motion to stop the sentencing.
Merchan’s order came down Monday as Trump’s lawyers filed a lawsuit in New York’s Appellate Division First Department against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Merchan over their denial of the former president’s immunity motions.
Merchan is scheduled Friday to sentence Trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last May, but Merchan has said he would not sentence the president-elect to any jail time. The sentencing has been delayed several times as Trump’s lawyers have appealed Merchan’s rulings.
In court filings Monday, Trump attorneys argued Merchan does not have the authority to move forward with sentencing while a question surrounding the case is in the appellate court.
“Forcing a President to continue to defend a criminal case — potentially through trial or, even more dramatically here, through sentencing and judgment — while the appellate courts are still grappling with his claim of immunity would, in fact, force that president ‘to answer for his conduct in court’ before his claim of immunity is finally adjudicated,” defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.
The president-elect’s team is appealing Merchan’s ruling that the hush money case involved actions Trump took before he became president in 2016 and does not fall under a recent U.S. Supreme Court immunity ruling. Trump’s legal team had sought to get the case dismissed.
“The court should vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all further deadlines in the case until President Trump’s immunity appeals are fully and finally resolved, which should result in a dismissal of the case, which should have never been brought in the first place,” Trump’s attorneys said, according to CNN.
Merchan had originally planned to sentence Trump in July but delayed it until after November’s presidential election because of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. In December, Merchan said Trump’s actions to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels happened before he became president, and were not protected by presidential immunity.
Merchan’s decision Monday to deny Trump’s request to halt Friday’s sentencing came on the same day he was certified as the winner of the 2024 presidential election. Trump’s inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20.