Judge delays decision on whether to vacate Donald Trump’s conviction in secret money case

NEW YORK — A judge has delayed ruling on whether to overturn President-elect Donald Trump’s conviction in the hush money case after his lawyers called for the case to be frozen and ultimately dismissed so he can govern.

New York Judge Juan M. Merchan was scheduled to rule Tuesday on their earlier request to throw out the conviction because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this summer on presidential immunity. Instead, he told Trump’s lawyers on Tuesday that he would delay the decision until November 19.

Trump attorney Emil Bove requested a continuance over the weekend, arguing that putting the case on hold — and then ending it entirely — was “necessary to avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern,” according to emails filed with the court.

Prosecutors acknowledged the delay.

Trump won back the White House a week ago, but the legal question concerns the Republican’s status as a past president, not an upcoming president.

A jury found Trump guilty in May of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. The payoff was to buy her silence about allegations that she had sex with Trump.

He says they didn’t, denies any wrongdoing and claims the investigation is a political tactic meant to hurt his latest campaign.

Just a month after the decision, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents cannot be tried for actions they took while ruling the country, and prosecutors cannot cite those actions even to support a case focused entirely on personal matters. to manage.

Trump’s lawyers cited the ruling to argue that the hush-money jury had some evidence it shouldn’t have, such as Trump’s presidential financial disclosure form and the statements of some White House aides.

Prosecutors disagreed and said the evidence in question was only “part” of the case.

Trump’s criminal conviction was a first for any former president. This left the 78-year-old facing penalties ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.

The case focused on how Trump repaid his personal attorney for the Daniels payment.

Attorney Michael Cohen prioritized money. He later recouped this with a series of payments that Trump’s company recorded as legal expenses. Trump signed most of the checks himself while he was in the White House at the time.

Prosecutors said the designation was meant to conceal the true purpose of the payments and help cover up a broader effort to prevent voters from hearing unflattering claims about the Republican during his primary campaign.

Trump said Cohen was legally paid for his legal services and that Daniels’ story was suppressed not to influence voters but to avoid embarrassing Trump’s family.

When Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016, Trump was a private citizen campaigning for president but had neither been elected nor sworn in. He was the president when Cohen was reimbursed, and Cohen testified that they discussed the reimbursement arrangement in the Oval Office.

Trump has been fighting to overturn the decision for months and may now seek to bolster his status as president-elect. Although he was tried as a private citizen, his imminent return to the White House could prompt the court to step in and avoid the unprecedented spectacle of punishment meted out to a former and future president.

While Trump is calling on Merchan to overturn his conviction, he is also trying to move the case to federal court. A federal judge had repeatedly said no to the move before the election, but Trump objected.