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Judge Delays Trump Sentencing in Hush Money Case Until After 2024 Election
One analyst argued the decision was "wrong," writing that "if no one is above the law, then Trump shouldn't be either."
Sep 06, 2024
The New York judge overseeing the criminal case stemming from hush money payments that Donald Trump made to porn star Stormy Daniels opted Friday to postpone the Republican nominee's sentencing until after the 2024 election, granting the former president's request for a delay.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote Friday that "this is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court's view, best advances the interests of justice."
Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, but Merchan noted that the U.S. Supreme Court's sweeping presidential immunity decision provided Trump's legal team an opening to delay the process further.
Prior to Merchan's order Friday, Trump's sentencing hearing was set for September 18.
As The New York Timesreported, "it is unclear whether sentencing Mr. Trump" in the weeks ahead of the November 5 election "would have helped or harmed him politically; his punishment could have been an embarrassing reminder of his criminal record, but could have also propelled his claims of political martyrdom."
"The jury did its job and, after reviewing a mountain of evidence that resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts, it's well past time for Donald Trump to be held accountable."
Norman Eisen, co-founder and board member of State Democracy Defenders Action, argued in an op-ed for MSNBC last month that Trump's sentencing should not be delayed, writing that "Trump should be denied the special treatment he seeks to delay his sentence simply because he is a presidential candidate."
"To avoid undermining public faith in the rule of law and fairness of the criminal justice system," Eisen wrote, "Trump's sentencing should go ahead as scheduled."
Eisen wrote on social media Friday that Merchan's decision to postpone Trump's sentencing was "wrong."
"Trump has already benefited from extraordinary special treatment," he added. "If no one is above the law, then Trump shouldn't be either."
Merchan wrote in his decision Friday that "this matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation's history," and experts are uncertain what would happen under various possible scenarios—including if Trump wins the 2024 election and is subsequently sentenced to prison.
One certainty, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is that "even if Trump is elected to a second term, he would not be able to pardon himself for these crimes because he was convicted on New York state charges."
Lisa Gilbert and Brett Edkins, co-chairs of the Not Above the Law Coalition, said in a statement Friday that "today's latest delay prevents justice from being served."
"At every step along the way, Trump and his legal team did everything they could to delay accountability in this case and undermine our legal system—even stooping so low as to intimidate witnesses, publicly criticize jurors, and defy orders from the judge," they continued. "The jury did its job and, after reviewing a mountain of evidence that resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts, it's well past time for Donald Trump to be held accountable."
This story has been updated to include a statement from the Not Above the Law Coalition.
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'I'll Take Up Arms If He Asks': Violent Supporters Rush to Trump After Guilty Verdict
"Trump retains an ironclad ability to mobilize more extreme supporters to action, both at the ballot box and through violence," warned one expert.
May 31, 2024
As supporters of Donald Trump flood right-wing platforms with threats against the jurors and judge following guilty verdicts Thursday in his criminal case regarding hush money payments, fears are growing that the influence the Republican presumptive presidential nominee has over his supporters will soon lead to violence.
"Until and unless he accepts the process, the extremist reaction to his legal troubles will be militant," Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, toldReuters.
The former president gave no sign of accepting the legal process Friday as he held a press conference at Trump Tower, repeating claims that the case had been "rigged."
Shortly after a New York jury announced its verdict in the case regarding documents that were falsified to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniel just before the 2016 election to keep her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump, right-wing websites like Gateway Pundit, Truth Social, and Patriots.Win saw an uptick in violent posts from users.
One commenter called for "someone in NY with nothing to lose" to "take care of" New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, while another on Gateway Pundit directed a threat at any and all opponents of Trump.
"Time to start capping some leftys," said the user. "This cannot be fixed by voting."
The reaction is a direct result, said Ware, of Trump's "insistence that he is being mistreated."
Trump responded to the verdict on Thursday by telling reporters he is "a very innocent man" and calling the trial—one of four criminal cases against him—"a disgrace." He is expected to appeal the verdict. On Friday morning, the Trump campaign announced a $35 million fundraising haul following the guilty verdict.
Some Trump supporters signaled they are waiting for instructions from the former president, who is the presumptive Republican nominee for president in the November general election and is set to be formally nominated days after his scheduled sentencing in July.
On Patiots.win, one commenter called for 1 million armed Trump supporters to "go to Washington and hang everyone," while another said the former president "should already know he has an army willing to fight and die for him if he says the words...I'll take up arms if he asks."
While Republican lawmakers have not explicitly endorsed a violent reaction to the verdict that found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts, many have joined Trump in making clear that they don't accept the trial's outcome.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has said she would not endorse Trump in the 2024 election, said Manhattan District Attorney charged Trump for politically motivated reasons and falsely claimed that he campaigned on prosecuting the former president.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the "charges never should have been brought in the first place," while House Speaker Mike Johnson accused the Biden administration of the "weaponization of our justice system."
Progressives agreed with Trump on one point Friday, after he pledged that the hush money case is "long from over" and said that "the real verdict is going to be November 5" when U.S. voters go to the polls in the general election.
While celebrating that a jury of "everyday people" held the former president accountable and proved that "despite his worst efforts, Trump is not above the law," People's Action executive director Sulma Arias said Democrats "must beat him at the ballot box" to keep him from further eroding U.S. democracy, climate action, and other progressive values.
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Trump Makes History as First US Pres on Trial
The beginning of jury selection in the New York City “hush-money” case has Trump alarmed that his strategy of delaying his day of reckoning is coming to an end.
Apr 17, 2024
Donald Trump became the first former or sitting U.S. president to stand trial on criminal charges when jury selection began Monday in his “hush-money” case in New York City. Not even Richard Nixon, who was saved from an indictment for his role in the Watergate scandal by a presidential pardon, achieved such ignominy. Whatever its outcome, the trial will make history.
Trump was indicted in New York on March 30, 2023 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from going public during the 2016 presidential campaign about their alleged sexual encounter a decade earlier. In a “Statement of Facts” filed along with the indictment and in a press release issued the day of Trump’s April 4 arraignment, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg explained that the payment to Daniels was part of a larger “catch and kill” scheme Trump initiated in August 2015 “to identify, purchase, and bury negative information about him and boost his electoral prospects.”
In addition to the Daniels disbursement, the scheme involved a $150,000 payment to former Playboy magazine “Playmate of the Year” Karen McDougal to cover up an alleged extramarital affair, and a $30,000 payment to Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at the Trump Tower in Manhattan, who allegedly was trying to sell a story about a child Trump had fathered out of wedlock.
From a political standpoint, the hush-money prosecution may not be as significant as Trump’s other criminal cases, but apart from its embarrassing and salacious details—all of which will be laid bare in open court—it is no laughing matter.
The scheme was carried out by Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, who made the payment to Daniels on Trump’s behalf and was later reimbursed by Trump. The payments to McDougal and Sajudin came from American Media, Inc., the former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, whose then-chairman and chief executive officer, David Pecker, is a long-time Trump associate.
Although evidence of the larger scheme will come before the jury to show Trump’s intent to use the payments to enhance his election prospects, the indictment only charges him with offenses related to Daniels.
There is nothing illegal per se about making hush-money payments. The wealthy often use them to secure nondisclosure agreements to keep embarrassing or confidential information private.
What makes Trump’s scheme unlawful, according to Bragg, is that Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels was actually a contribution to Trump’s election campaign that was both undisclosed and exceeded the 2016 $2,700 limit on individual contributions set by the Federal Election Campaign Act. In addition, the reimbursement checks written to Cohen in 2017 were “illegally disguised [in the records of the Trump Organization] as… payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement” to hide their actual purpose. Eleven of the 34 counts lodged against Trump involve checks written to Cohen (nine signed by Trump himself); 12 concern false invoices Cohen submitted; and 12 involve false entries in records maintained by the Trump Organization.
Although New York prosecutors routinely litigate business-record frauds, such cases are usually handled as misdemeanors. Offenses become felonies when the intent to defraud includes an intent to commit or conceal another crime. The other crimes implicated in Trump’s scheme include federal election campaign finance violations, parallel state-election law crimes, and tax fraud.
As in all criminal cases, Bragg’s legal team will have the burden of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. The team has named 11 potential witnesses, headed by Cohen, Daniels, and Pecker. Also named are Trump administration operatives Hope Hicks and Madeleine Westerhout, and Trump Organization insiders Rhona Graff, Jeffrey McConney, and Deborah Tarasoff, who presumably will be called to help establish Trump’s knowledge of the scheme and his criminal intent.
In addition to the witnesses, the prosecution will present a trove of documentary evidence, including the reimbursement checks written to Cohen, the phony business ledger entries, and a taped telephone conversation between Cohen and Trump that Cohen secretly recorded in September 2016. The pair can be heard on the recording discussing how to hide the payments to McDougal.
None of this means that the case is a slam dunk. Cohen will be particularly easy prey on cross examination as a convicted felon. In 2018, he pleaded guilty in federal court to tax evasion, making false statements to banks and campaign finance violations for the Daniels and McDougal payments. He was subsequently sentenced to serve three years in prison.
Trump was never charged with a federal crime, but was named in the pleadings filed against Cohen as “individual 1,” on whose behalf Cohen allegedly acted.
All of this has Trump alarmed that his strategy of delaying his day of reckoning in a criminal trial is coming to an end. The strategy has worked thus far in the two cases brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith for election subversion and mishandling classified documents, and in the case brought by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis for election interference.
But the strategy has run aground in Trump’s former hometown, where he rose to fame as a real estate mogul and a “reality TV” huckster. Last week, his attorneys lost four last-ditch motions to delay the trial.
From a political standpoint, the hush-money prosecution may not be as significant as Trump’s other criminal cases, but apart from its embarrassing and salacious details—all of which will be laid bare in open court—it is no laughing matter. Each of the 34 counts carries a potential four-year prison term, with a maximum cap of 20 years for convictions on five or more counts.
We can’t peek inside Trump’s fevered mind, but it’s safe to assume, as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has said, Trump “goes to bed every night, thinking about the sound of that jail cell door closing behind” him.
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