Jan. 7 (UPI) — A New York appeals court judge on Tuesday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s latest request to delay this week’s sentencing in his hush-money case.
“After consideration of the papers submitted and the extensive oral argument, movants application for the interim stay is denied,” Justice Ellen Gesmer wrote in her ruling after hearing arguments Tuesday from Trump attorney Todd Blanche and Steven Wu from the Manhattan district attorney’s office over the president-elect’s emergency motion filed Monday.
Blanche argued Trump is protected by presidential immunity during the transition period before he takes office, and that Friday’s sentencing would “violate the constitutional rights of President Trump and threaten disruption of the presidential transition, a process that directly concerns the United States of America’s national security and vital interest.”
The judge questioned whether “presidential immunity extends to presidents-elect,” to which Blanche replied, “There has never been a case like this before, so no.”
Wu countered, “There is one president at a time,” as he called the “claim so baseless that there is no basis for any kind of stay here.”
“There is a compelling public interest in seeing this process come to an end,” Wu claimed. “If sentencing is to happen at all, now is the best time for it to happen.”
Gesmer’s ruling comes one day after Judge Juan Merchan denied a similar request to delay this week’s hush-money sentencing as questions over Trump’s 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 times in the past,” Merchan wrote in Monday’s order. Trump’s legal team promptly filed a lawsuit against the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a new request to halt Friday’s sentencing.
“Justice Merchan’s erroneous decisions threaten the institution of the presidency and run squarely against established precedent disallowing any criminal process against a president-elect, as well as prohibiting the use of evidence of a president’s official acts against him in a criminal proceeding,” Trump’s lawyers argued in their suit.
Merchan is scheduled to sentence Trump on Friday on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, related to hush money his lawyer paid to an adult film star during the 2016 presidential election. Merchan has said he would not sentence the president-elect to any jail time after he was convicted last May.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He was certified Monday as the winner of the 2024 presidential election. His inauguration is scheduled for Jan. 20.
