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What’s in Trump’s request to block sentencing in Stormy Daniels hush money case in NY?
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Incoming president Donald Trump has asked for an emergency order from the Supreme Court asking to block his sentencing scheduled for Friday, Jan. 10 in his New York hush money criminal case. Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to hide payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress, made ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
New York appellate court Associate Judge Ellen Gesmer previously rejected Trump’s request to postpone the sentencing Tuesday, Jan. 7.
What’s in Trump’s argument to block sentencing in NY hush money case?
According to court documents, Trump cited NY Supreme Court’s rulings on presidential immunity are causing “ongoing, irreparable” harm by depriving the president-elect “of his constitutional rights.”
That court “wrongly denied” Trump’s pending motion to dismiss the criminal case based on presidential immunity, according to the U.S. Supreme Court filing.
In July 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled “official” acts taken by a president are protected from criminal prosecution but not steps he took as a candidate.
Trump, the first president — former or current — to be criminally charged, argued he can’t be prosecuted for actions he took in his official capacity during his administration, an extension of the reasoning the Supreme Court used in 1982 when it barred civil suits against a president for official actions.
Otherwise, Trump’s attorneys argued, the threat of future prosecution and imprisonment would destroy the strength and authority of the presidency by subjecting them to politically motivated prosecutions, language used in the recent U.S. Supreme Court filing.
“President Trump promptly filed an interlocutory appeal and notified the trial court that it is subject to anautomatic stay, but the New York courts have erroneously refused to honor that stay,” the filing states, with Trump seeking ” … the dismissal of the District Attorney’s politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who handles emergency appeals from New York, directed prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to respond to Trump’s request by 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 9.
Contributing: USA Today.