Judge rejects effort by Trump's lawyers to halt Friday's hush money case sentencing while case is on appeal

A Manhattan judge on Monday denied a request by President-elect Donald Trump to delay his Friday sentencing on his hush money conviction on felony charges that he falsified business records to cover up a sexual liaison to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election.

State Supreme Court Justice Juan M. Merchan said the arguments by Trump's legal team in an effort to delay the sentencing were repetitive.

"This Court has considered Defendant's arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past," Merchan wrote Monday afternoon.

Trump was seeking a delay the sentencing, contending that his plan to appeal a series of rulings against his claim of presidential immunity warrants an automatic pause in the case.

Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche, in a filing dated Sunday, asked Merchan to rule on the request for a stay pending the appeal by 2 p.m. Monday.

"The commencement of appellate proceedings — which should result in a dismissal of this politically-motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning, centered around the wrongful actions and false claims of a disgraced, disbarred serial- liar former attorney, violated President Trump’s due process rights, and had no merit — seeking interlocutory review of these claims of Presidential immunity immediately results in an automatic stay of proceedings in this Court," Blanche wrote in his filing.

The filing said that Trump will file an Article 78 proceeding, which is basically a fast-tracked lawsuit against a government entity or state official, as well as a direct appeal in the Appellate Division, First Department, "seeking review of the Court’s two recent incorrect rulings on Presidential immunity."

The last-minute legal maneuvering sets up a dramatic fight just as Trump, the 45th President, is set to take the presidential oath for a second time on Jan. 20.

In court papers filed Monday afternoon, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted Trump, said it opposed the defense's motion for a stay of the proceedings.

"The notices of appeal that defendant will file with the Appellate Division do not divest this Court of jurisdiction or otherwise automatically stay proceedings in this Court," the prosecution wrote. "As is clear from the relevant authorities, the purpose of pretrial immunity determinations is to foreclose a potentially unnecessary trial. But here, the trial concluded more than seven months ago; all posttrial motions have been fully adjudicated; and as to the only remaining proceeding — the Jan. 10 sentencing — the Court has already stated its intent to impose the lowest possible sentence authorized by law: an unconditional discharge. There is no risk here of an "extended proceeding" that impairs the discharge of defendant's official duties — duties he does not possess before Jan. 20, 2025 in any event."

On Friday, Merchan upheld Trump's conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to sway voters in the 2016 presidential election and set Trump's sentencing, which had appeared to have been delayed indefinitely, for this Friday, a mere 10 days before Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 47th President.

Merchan signaled that Trump was unlikely to receive a jail sentence.

"It seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration," the judge wrote.

Merchan added: "A sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options."

A Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 reimbursement to his former fixer Michael Cohen for paying hush money to former adult film star Stormy Daniels after she said she had a sexual liaison with Trump, then a reality TV host, in 2006.

Trump, his then-personal attorney Michael Cohen and National Enquirer editor David Pecker conspired to "catch and kill" the story of the liaison — which prosecutors said meant that they paid Daniels for the rights to publish the story, but never did, therefore keeping the allegations secret, the jury found.

It was part of a plan to hide negative headlines about Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election, the jury concluded.

Trump's legal team has seized on a ruling last July from the U.S. Supreme Court that said presidents have broad immunity from prosecution of their official conduct.

Trump’s lawyers had argued that the indictment against Trump should be dismissed and the jury’s verdict should be set aside because it was reached using, in part, testimony from witnesses — including White House Communications Director Hope Hicks and White House aide Madeleine Westerhout — who testified about some of Trump’s actions while he was President — testimony that had "tainted" the trial, the lawyers said.

Merchan, in a December ruling, said the defense’s claims of presidential immunity "relate entirely to unofficial conduct and thus, receive no immunity protections."

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.