NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump remains on track to be sentenced this week in his hush money case after a judge on Monday denied his request to halt proceedings while he appeals a ruling that upheld the historic verdict.
Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan ordered sentencing to proceed as scheduled on Friday, a little more than a week before Trump's inauguration. The judge rejected a push by Trump's lawyers to postpone it indefinitely while they ask a state appeals court to reverse his decision last week that let the conviction stand.
Trump, on course to be the first president to take office convicted of crimes, can still ask the appeals court to delay sentencing or seek to have another court intervene. His lawyers have previously suggested taking the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump's lawyers have told Merchan that if his sentencing happens, he will appear by video rather than in person. The judge had given him the option, acceding to the demands of the presidential transition process.
Last Friday, Merchan denied Trump's bid to throw out his conviction and dismiss the case because of his impending return to the White House, but signalled he is not likely to sentence the Republican to any punishment for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after Merchan ruled that it “would be the end of the Presidency as we know it” if it is allowed to stand.
Trump's lawyers, who are also challenging Merchan's prior refusal to toss the case on presidential immunity grounds, filed appeal paperwork Monday in the appellate division of the state's trial court. No arguments have been scheduled.
“Today, President Trump's legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.'s Witch Hunt,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said. “The Supreme Court's historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.”
Trump's lawyers did not immediately ask the appeals court to halt Trump's sentencing.
In a separate filing with Merchan, they argued that the appeal should automatically pause the case. If it didn't, they said he should step in and do it himself — an idea he rejected.
Manhattan prosecutors had urged Merchan to proceed with sentencing as scheduled, “given the strong public interest in prompt prosecution and the finality of criminal proceedings.”
Prosecutors blamed Trump for pushing his sentencing to the brink of his second term by repeatedly seeking to postpone his sentencing, originally scheduled for July.
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