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Former US President Donald Trump stands in the courtroom during his hush money trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on April 26, 2024 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Lawyers for the president-elect Donald Trump he was trying to block his schedule sentence later this week in a new york criminals shut up money case, according to a new court motion.
Trump’s lawyers told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan in the motion made public Monday that they will appeal his decision denying their efforts to reschedule the criminal case.
The motion argues that the appeal should automatically suspend the sentence, which is scheduled for Friday, and that if Merchan does not agree, it should nevertheless grant Trump an immediate continuation of that procedure pending the outcome of the appeal. That appeal could take months to resolve.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in a court filing later Monday urged Merchan to reject Trump’s request to delay his sentence pending an appeal.
The DA’s office said there is “a strong public interest in speedy prosecution and finality of criminal proceedings — interests that are particularly salient here in light of the jury’s guilty verdict.”
Trump was condemned of 34 counts of falsifying business records in May, related to a 2016 cash payment to a porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the presidential election of that year.
Merchan last week said that he was not inclined to sentence Trump to prison in the case, and he also suggested that he impose a sentence that does not include either probation or a fine.
That same day, Merchan rejected arguments that he should throw out the case in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said presidents have presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts while serving in the White House, and because of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
The DA’s motion on Monday said that because of Merchan “already declared [his] intending to impose the lowest possible penalty authorized by law, “Trump “will not suffer prejudice from the conclusion of” the case to be convicted, which will allow him to appeal his conviction.
In a statement Monday, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said, “Today, President Trump’s legal team moved to halt the illegal sentence in the Manhattan DA’s witch hunt.”
“The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on immunity, the New York state constitution, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be dismissed immediately,” Cheung said.
On January 20, Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as president for his second non-consecutive term in the White House.
