The judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money trial has further delayed his long-expected decision on Trump’s guilty verdict in light of the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity earlier this year.
New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan agreed with prosecutors and defense attorneys to allow more time to figure out whether the verdict should stand, given the unprecedented nature of the circumstances surrounding the case.
Trump’s sentencing in the state criminal trial had already been pushed back more than four months from its original date in July, after he was found guilty on all 34 felony counts in May.
The sentencing had been set for Nov. 26. Prosecutors now have until Nov. 19 to file their assessment on how to proceed, given that Trump was just elected to a second presidential term.
The case against Trump revolved around a hush money payment made to the porn actor Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election. She maintains that she once had a brief affair with Trump, which he denies.
In July, the Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling on presidential power, decreeing that U.S. presidents enjoy “absolute immunity” from prosecution for acts undertaken as part of their “core constitutional powers.”
Trump was president while he signed checks in the repayment scheme that was at the heart of the trial.
At Trump’s direction, his personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, had arranged a $130,000 payment to Daniels in exchange for her silence about the alleged affair. Cohen was then reimbursed in installments over the course of around a year for what was described in financial records as legal fees — records that the jury agreed had been fraudulent.
Trump had been facing the possibility of jail time on the charges, although they are low-level, and his status as a first-time offender would likely be taken into account.
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While the Department of Justice has a general policy against prosecuting sitting presidents, the hush money case was brought at the state level, not federal. However, Merchan could decide to honor the spirit of the federal policy.
In any case, if the verdict stands, Trump would be unable to pardon himself on the charges once he takes the oath of office in January — remaining, at least for now, the only felon president in history.