Convicted felon and President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing has been indefinitely postponed, New York Judge Juan Merchan ruled on Friday.
Trump was scheduled to be sentenced over his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records next week, but his victory in this month's election has thrown several wrenches into the case. Can a sitting president be sent to prison? It's uncharted territory, folks.
In a Friday ruling, Merchan agreed to suspend proceedings in the case with no date in sight for a sentencing. He also accepted a motion from Trump's lawyers to file a motion to outright dismiss the case against Trump, which the president-elect's attorneys will need to submit by December 2.
One of the factors Merchan is weighing in how to proceed with Trump's conviction is a July Supreme Court decision granting presidents immunity from prosecution for “official” acts committed in office. The court did not dignify to clarify what exactly separated an official from an unofficial act, but the decision is helping Trump wriggle his way out of criminal cases related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Following Trump's victory, the two cases against him under the scrutiny of the Justice Department are effectively dead in the water. Trump's federal election interference case was already significantly delayed following the Supreme Court's ruling, and is now dead. Ahead of the election, Florida Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the DOJ's case against Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents; the department is unlikely to continue pursuing its pending appeals. Trump's return to the White House also throws a wrench into Georgia's election interference case against the president-elect and a slew of his cronies. While the state may no longer be able to prosecute Trump as president, his allies under indictment do not enjoy the same immunity benefits as he does.
Always one to overreach, Trump and his lawyers are leveraging the decision to argue that all prosecutions against the now-incoming president should be thrown out. Trump's illicit payments to Daniels did not take place through official government channels, and the deal to bury her claims of an affair with Trump was struck before his 2016 victory. Nonetheless Merchan is weighing the decision.
Earlier this month, Manhattan District Attorney Senior Counsel Matthew Colangelo wrote a letter to Merchan acknowledging that considerations needed to be made regarding “the impact on this proceeding from the results of the Presidential election; defendant's forthcoming certification as President-elect on January 6, 2025; and its inauguration on January 20, 2025.”
In a separate letter, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote that the state plans to oppose Trump's motion to dismiss his conviction. “No current law establishes that a president's temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on unofficial conduct for which the defendant is also not immune,” Bragg wrote.
“Given the need to balance competing constitutional interests, consideration must be given
to various non-dismissal options that may address any concerns […] such as deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of Defendant's upcoming presidential term,” he added.
