The judge in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial ruled on Friday that he won’t sentence the former president until November 26. Juan Merchan, who Trump has relentlessly accused of bias against him, wrote in his decision that the delay was “to avoid any appearance—however unwarranted—that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.”
Merchan went on to add that he hopes the decision ends any concern about the impartiality of the court—Trump has repeatedly insisted that the entire prosecution, judge, and jury were rigged by the Biden administration, despite the case being heard in a New York court, not under federal jurisdiction.
“The Court is a fair, impartial and apolitical institution,” Merchan wrote.
The sentencing is for 39 felony convictions of falsifying business records for Trump’s hush money scandal involving adult film star Stormy Daniels, and was led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Each charge carries up to a four-year prison sentence, but it was highly unlikely that Trump would receive a significant sentence—as a first time non-violent offender, probation was far likelier. However, any chance of a major presidential candidate—or president-elect—being required to serve jail time is completely unprecedented.
Trump has yet to respond to Merchan’s ruling, but the delay was at his own request. He has also submitted filings asking for the conviction to be tossed based on July’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity—according to Trump’s attorneys, testimony that was used against him that referred to events that occurred while he was president shouldn’t have been used. Merchan has yet to rule on that.
Prosecutors did not oppose Trump’s request to delay the sentencing, but throughout the trial—and the years-long legal process running up to it—Bragg’s attorneys argued that Trump was improperly trying to delay legal consequences against him.
