Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request on Monday to halt the sentencing in his hush-money case. Trump's legal team filed a motion, called an Article 78 motion, earlier in the day to delay his sentencing, which is currently scheduled for January 10 at 9:30 a.m.—just ten days before he is inaugurated as the 47th president on January 20.
“Defendant's motion for a stay of these proceedings, including the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, is hereby DENIED," Merchan wrote in his decision. “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. Further, this Court finds that the authorities relied upon in the instant motion by the Defendant are for the most part, factually distinguishable from the actual record or legally inapplicable.”
The order was issued after Trump filed a lawsuit against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, challenging the judge's rejection of his motions for presidential immunity. In the lawsuit, the president-elect’s legal team contended that Judge Merchan overstepped his authority by rejecting Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in his ruling last week. The attorneys also objected to the judge’s order requiring Trump to appear for sentencing—either in person or virtually—on January 10, following his conviction in May.
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Defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove reacted to the news, saying “forcing a President to continue to defend a criminal case -- potentially through trial or, even more dramatically here, through sentencing and judgment -- while the appellate courts are still grappling with his claim of immunity would, in fact, force that President 'to answer for his conduct in court' before his claim of immunity is finally adjudicated.”
Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital demanded an “immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts.”
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