Judge postpones sentencing in Trump’s hush money case until after the election

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives for a news conference held at Trump Tower, Friday, Sept., 6, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

A judge has agreed to postpone former President Donald Trump’s sentencing in his New York hush money case until after the November election.

Judge Juan M. Merchan said in his decision Friday that he wanted to avoid any perception that the sentence was intended to tilt the scales in the presidential campaign.

The judge delayed Trump’s sentencing until Nov. 26.

Trump was convicted May 30 on 34 counts of falsifying business records arising from what prosecutors said was an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.

Daniels claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 after meeting him at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. Trump has repeatedly denied that claim, saying at his June 27 debate with Biden: “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.”

Prosecutors said the Daniels payment was part of a broader scheme to buy the silence of people who might have gone public during the campaign with embarrassing stories alleging Trump had extramarital sex. Trump said they all were false.

Cohen paid Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, whose company logged the reimbursements as legal expenses.

Trump’s defense argued that the payments were indeed for legal work and so were correctly categorized.

Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.

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