Judge Juan Mercant, who presided over the trial of Donald Trump over alleged payments to a former porn star, adjourned sentencing to September 18, following a Supreme Court ruling granting the former president broad immunity.
Trump’s sentencing, scheduled for July 11, has been postponed to “September 18, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. [locais]”If it’s still necessary,” the judge warned in a letter to defend and prosecute the Republican nominee in the November presidential election.
The judge was responding to a letter from the Manhattan attorney’s office, which had earlier announced it was willing to “postpone” Trump’s sentencing announcement.
“While we believe the defendant’s arguments are without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to present them and for a delay in sentencing,” attorney Joshua Steinglass said in a letter to the judge.
The president will be given a final sentence after the Republican convention in Milwaukee between July 15 and 18, where Donald Trump is expected to officially be nominated for the presidential nomination on November 5.
In late May, the Republican president was found guilty by a popular jury in New York on 34 counts of embezzling $130,000 from a former pornographic actress during the final stretch of the 2016 elections. That could harm his aspirations to reach the White House in a dispute with Hillary Clinton.
Accepting the Chancellor’s plea, the judge extended the deadline to July 10 to file fresh arguments following the Supreme Court’s verdict. The government will be given time till July 24 to file its reply.
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