Donald Trump will be sentenced to prison on July 11

Trump Moves To Overturn Manhattan Conviction After Supreme Court Immunity Decision


Hours after the US Supreme Court granted Donald Trump immunity for official acts committed in office, the former president began an effort to toss his recent conviction in Manhattan and postpone his upcoming sentencing over 34 felony counts related to his cover-up of a sex scandal leading up to the 2016 US election.


In a letter to judge Juan Merchan just hours after the Supreme Court ruling - and 10 days before he's set for sentencing, Trump's lawyers sought permission to file a motion to set aside the verdict while Merchan considers whether the Supreme Court ruling affects the conviction.



That said, Trump's attempt might be a long shot given the fact that the Manhattan case revolves around acts Trump took as a candidate, not as president.


As the NY Times notes, however, Trump's lawyers are likely to argue that prosecutors partially built their case using evidence from his time in office. Under the Supreme Court's new ruling, prosecutors may not charge a president for official acts, but also cannot cite evidence involving official acts that affect other accusations.

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Merchan may also punt on the request, as the deadline for filing post-trial motions ended last month. Instead, Merchan may instruct Trump's attorneys to raise the issue when they appeal the conviction post-sentencing.
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Judge in Trump's hush money trial delays sentencing following Supreme Court immunity ruling

The hearing, previously scheduled for July 11, will be delayed until at least September 18.

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's New York criminal trial on Tuesday approved a delay of the former president's sentencing after his lawyers asked for more time to argue that the Supreme Court's immunity decision calls for a new trial.

The sentencing hearing, previously scheduled for July 11, will now take place on September 18 at the earliest, according to a letter posted on the court's docket.

The delay guarantees Trump will not be sentenced until after he is formally nominated for president at the Republican National Convention, which begins July 15, and sentencing will happen less than two months before the presidential election.

Trump's team moved quickly to leverage the Supreme Court's ruling on Monday, sending a letter to Merchan asking to brief him on how it impacts his felony conviction on 34 counts of falsified business records. In a letter Tuesday, prosecutors said they were not opposed to delaying the sentencing hearing, though they signaled they believe the effort to toss the verdict is "without merit."
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In the letter to the judge Monday, Trump's team argued that prosecutors wrongly used evidence of his "official acts" at trial, which is now immunized conduct and prohibited under the Supreme Court's new decision. The justices concluded that while presidents enjoy no immunity for "unofficial" acts that don't involve core presidential duties, prosecutors cannot use any evidence or testimony concerning official acts to prosecute unofficial conduct.

The crux of the issue for Merchan will now come down to whether some of the evidence, like the testimony of former Trump aide Hope Hicks describing a conservation she had with Trump while he was president, is off limits. If so, a new trial could be required unless the judge finds the error was harmless because Trump would have still been convicted.
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