The Supreme Court found that the Constitution grants Presidents absolute immunity for official acts as president but not for unofficial acts. After that decision, President Donald Trump’s legal team filed a motion with Manhattan trial judge Juan Merchan to dismiss the charges. This is the judge who presided over the misnamed “hush money” case.
According to The New Republic, Juan Merchan, the judge who presided over the hush-money trial that landed Trump with 34 felony convictions, is no longer certain that sentencing, which was delayed to September, will ever happen.
“The Court’s decision will be rendered off calendar on September 6, 2024, and the matter is adjourned to September 18, 2024, at 10:00 AM for the imposition of sentence, if such is still necessary, or other proceedings,” New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote in a letter Tuesday. The sentencing was supposed to take place on July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention.
Graham Kates is with CBS ‘News.’
BREAKING: Trump’s sentencing is postponed until Sept. 18 “if such is still necessary” pic.twitter.com/WLlLZkq6wJ
— Graham Kates (@GrahamKates) July 2, 2024
It likely means nothing. Merchan is probably trying to sound fair and unbiased, which he clearly is not.
Trump’s attorneys, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, said that their motion will argue that, based on the Supreme Court’s decision, prosecutors should not have been allowed to introduce evidence about official acts Trump took while in office.
Prosecutors approved the delay for Trump’s team to present their arguments. However, they responded that they believe Trump’s “arguments to be without merit.”
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