What happened
The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money trial and criminal conviction has postponed his July 11 sentencing. Judge Juan Merchan is now due to sentence the former president in mid-September, though he could also decide a Supreme Court ruling granting Trump broad presidential immunity fatally compromised the New York state felony fraud convictions.
Who said what
Merchan may “ultimately find no basis to overturn the jury’s verdict,” The New York Times said, but Tuesday’s decision to postpone the sentencing was a “surprising turn of events.” The two-month delay will “allow time for Trump to file a formal motion asking for the conviction to be completely tossed out, for prosecutors to respond and for Merchan to rule,” USA Today said.
The Supreme Court’s ruling may not directly affect Trump’s Manhattan conviction “since the conduct at issue was principally about paying hush money to an adult-film actress” and then “reimbursing Trump’s former lawyer,” The Washington Post said. However, Trump’s legal team may use the immunity decision to “attack the trial evidence, since the Supreme Court ruled that evidence related to official acts of a president may not be presented to a jury.”
What next?
Merchan will rule on Trump’s motion to throw out his guilty verdicts on Sep. 6. If he denies the request, Trump would be sentenced on Sept. 18.