Judge delays decision on Trump’s hush money conviction sentencing

The judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money trial has delayed making a decision on the sentencing that was scheduled to happen later this month.

New York Judge Juan Merchan was to rule today but will now make the decision on Nov. 19.

Trump’s lawyers asked for the delay saying that there were “strong reasons for the requested stay, and eventually dismissal of the case in the interests of justice,” The Associated Press reported.

Trump was convicted by a jury in May on 34 counts for falsifying business records over a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her over her claims she had sex with Trump, ABC News reported.

Trump denied her claim and denied any wrongdoing, saying the case was election interference. The $130,000 payment, however, happened before he had been sworn in as president. Trump said the prosecution used evidence of official acts to fill “glaring holes in their case,” according to ABC News. The evidence used was Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form and testimony from his White House aides, the AP reported.

Prosecutors said the evidence Trump’s team challenged was only a small portion of the evidence used in the trial.

The payment was made by his personal attorney to Daniels in October 2016 before Trump was elected or sworn in. Trump replaced the cash used by Michael Cohen through payments made by checks that Trump signed, drawn from his company’s account while he was in office.

Trump contended that the money was paid for legal services.

The Supreme Court said that ex-presidents cannot be prosecuted for actions that happened in the official role as president and that they cannot be cited in other cases based on personal conduct, the AP reported.

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