An appeals court has refused to stop President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing for his criminal hush money conviction in New York on Friday.
Trump had again turned to the courts hoping they would step in and stop his sentencing for his 34-count felony conviction.
Just 24 hours ago, Judge Juan Merchan refuseda request from Trump to halt the Jan. 10 sentencing. In a tersely worded order, the judge informed Trump’s attorneys, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, that the request was denied because they had failed to offer any new arguments to support the dismissal or halt the proceedings. Instead, the judge wrote, they had only rehashed old claims to presidential immunity that failed when introduced the first time.
The appeals court decision was concise, stating only that after consideration of his arguments, the application for an interim stay, or halt, is denied.
Merchan ruled in December that the evidence the jury in New York relied on to convict Trump of falsifying records in a hush money scheme ahead of the 2016 election relied overwhelmingly on his unofficial conduct and unofficial conduct is still prosecutable.
The application filed to the appellate court by Trump’s legal team on Tuesday for an immediate stay claims that Merchan’s ruling on Monday is “causing ongoing, irreparable harm by depriving President Trump of his constitutional rights.”
Before Merchan made his decision, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg argued that facing sentencing is not a violation of Trump’s constitutional rights nor does it impose any real burden on him.
For one, Bragg argued, until he is inaugurated, Trump is “simply not engaged in any official presidential functions that would support a claim of immunity from ordinary criminal process.”
Next, Bragg pointed out, the upcoming sentencing basically carries no real penalty since Merchan has already said the only practical path forward since Trump won the election in November is to hand down a sentence of “unconditional discharge.”
Typically, these sentences carry no fines, and no prison time is assigned.
If Trump is not sentenced before he takes office, sentencing would need to wait until he departs the White House.