Attorneys for Donald Trump have appealed to the US Supreme Court to pause proceedings in the President-elect’s hush money case, ahead of his sentencing scheduled for Friday, January 10, 2025.
This follows a New York appeals court denying his bid to halt sentencing on Friday in his hush-money case, in which he became a felon last spring.
The President-elect on Monday lost an attempt to put off his sentencing for his criminal conviction stemming from money paid to an adult film star to silence her about an alleged affair with Trump years ago.
The President-elect’s Attorneys are petitioning the nation’s highest court, where conservative justices, three of whom Trump appointed, hold a six-seat supermajority.
Trump’s Attorneys want the case put on pause while a separate appeal they have filed, which cites the court’s decision last year in a separate Trump-related case that grants presidents immunity for official acts, plays out.
Juan Merchan, the New York judge presiding over the case, has signaled that he will not sentence Trump to jail after being convicted of 34 felony charges related to concealing a payment to an adult film actor made ahead of his 2016 election victory.
In a filing released on Wednesday, January 8, 2024, Trump’s lawyers asked the nation’s top court to immediately order a stay in the case, as he sought an appeal to resolve questions of presidential immunity following an earlier supreme court ruling.
Donald Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung released a statement detailing his appeal to the supreme court to block his sentencing on business fraud charges scheduled for Friday.
Cheung said that Trump’s legal team filed an emergency petition with the United States supreme court, asking the Court to “correct the unjust actions by New York courts and stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt.”
“The supreme court’s historic decision on Immunity, the constitution, and established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed. The American People elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate that demands an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining witch-hunts.
“We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again.”
Steven Cheung
Trump won another term in the White House and is set to take office on 20 January. He has denied any wrongdoing but was convicted by a jury last May.
The hush-money case made Trump the first US President, sitting or former, to be charged with a crime and also the first to be convicted. Since the verdict, his lawyers have made two unsuccessful attempts to have the case tossed.
Justice Department To Release Parts Of Report On Trump’s Attempt To Overturn 2020 Election
Separately, the justice department plans to make public part of special counsel Jack Smith’s report detailing his investigation into Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, but not the portion that looks into the classified documents he is accused of hiding at his properties.
The department made its intent known in a court filing responding to a decision yesterday by a Florida judge that temporarily halted release of Smith’s report, which is expected to detail the evidence behind the two indictments he brought against the former President.
It was reported that the justice department intends to make special counsel Jack Smith’s report detailing his investigation into Donald Trump’s possession of classified documents available only to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate judiciary committees.
The department wrote in a filing to an appeals court that is weighing a request from Trump’s lawyers to block release of the report “This limited disclosure will further the public interest in keeping congressional leadership apprised of a significant matter within the Department while safeguarding defendants’ interests.”
Smith dismissed the charges in November, after Trump won re-election.
While Smith has dropped the charges against Trump, he is continuing the prosecutions of two of his co-defendants indicted alongside him in the classified documents case.
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