Prosecutors won’t object to delaying Trump’s New York sentencing hearing

New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Tuesday delayed former President Donald Trump’s sentencing hearing to just weeks before the November election. Trump’s sentencing was set to take place on July 11, but the parties will now reconvene on Sept. 18, Merchan said.

Trump’s attorneys asked on Monday to file a motion to overturn his May 30 criminal conviction in the state on 34 counts of business fraud. The motion alleged that the court admitted evidence into his trial about official acts Trump made while in office, thereby allowing the jury to consider them while arriving at a verdict. Admitting that evidence violated the Supreme Court’s latest ruling in Trump v. United States, Trump’s attorneys said. The court found in that decision, which it released on Monday, that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts they committed while in office. Trump’s attorneys did not officially ask to delay his sentencing but did ask for a deadline of July 10 to submit further arguments in support of its motion to set aside the jury’s verdict.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on Tuesday said that Trump’s request would effectively require a delay in the sentencing hearing since his attorneys would be filing their motion just a day before the hearing was to take place. Prosecutors said Trump’s motion was without merit but said they did not object to it. Bragg’s office requested until July 24 to file a response to Trump’s motion. Judge Merchan said he would rule on Trump’s motion to set aside his conviction on Sept. 6.

What is going on with Trump’s allies and their legal troubles? Trump ally Steve Bannon on Tuesday began his first full day behind bars after reporting to federal prison on Monday. A Washington, D.C. court sentenced Bannon more than a year and a half ago after a jury found him guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress. A select committee for the House of Representatives tasked with investigating the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021, subpoenaed Bannon to testify about his knowledge of the day’s events. He refused to show up.

Why is Bannon only just now going to prison? The judge who sentenced him allowed him to remain out of prison while he appealed his convictions. A three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia earlier this year rejected Bannon’s appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court last week refused a last-minute request to hear his appeal.

What’s going on with other Trump allies? A New York court of appeals on Tuesday disbarred Trump supporter and former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani in the state, finding that he made false statements about the 2020 presidential election. Giuliani had made those false statements to support former President Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, the court said. Giuliani and several other individuals are under indictment in Arizona for allegedly seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in the state.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report in the WORLD archives about Trump and Bannon fighting the House’s investigation into the events of January 6.