Donald Trump’s attorneys are asking the judge in his New York hush money case to postpone sentencing until after the presidential election in November, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
He is currently scheduled to be sentenced on September 18.
The filing is the latest attempt by Trump’s attorneys to fight the conviction, delay the sentencing and remove Judge Juan Merchan from the trial.
The sentencing has been postponed once before. Merchan pushed the hearing, originally set for July 11, to September in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this summer that granted Trump some presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.
The judge has said that he will rule on Trump’s request to throw out his conviction based on the high court’s immunity decision on September 16, and the former president’s attorneys argued in their letter Thursday that “a single business day is an unreasonably short period of time for President Trump to seek to vindicate (his) rights.”
They also note that his sentencing is scheduled to happen after early voting begins in some states ahead of Election Day.
“Setting aside naked election-interference objectives, there is no valid countervailing reason for the Court to keep the current sentencing date on the calendar. There is no basis for continuing to rush,” Trump’s attorneys, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, wrote in the letter.
Earlier this week, Merchan said that he would not recuse himself from the case despite his daughter’s role in Democratic politics. An advisory committee on ethics previously found no basis for the judge to step aside.
In denying Trump’s motion, the judge wrote, “this court now reiterates for the third time, that which should already be clear – innuendo and mischaracterization do not a conflict create.”
“As has been the standard throughout the pendency of this case, the court will continue to base its rulings on the evidence and the law, without fear or favor, casting aside undue influence,” Merchan wrote in his decision.
This story has been updated with additional details Thursday.
