(FixThisNation.com) – Trump’s attorneys have asked the judge who presided over his hush money trial to delay sentencing.
On Monday, former President Donald Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to Judge Juan Merchan referencing the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier in the day.
Trump’s lawyers argue the Supreme Court’s ruling confirms a position they raised earlier in the hush money trial when they asserted the prosecutors should not be allowed to introduce evidence that could be considered official presidential acts.
In previous court filings, the former President has contended he is immune from prosecution for acts he carried out as President. Although his lawyers never raised that as a defense in the hush money trial, they contended some evidence — like social media posts Trump made about his former lawyer Michael Cohen — should be excluded from the trial as he carried out those actions as President for which he has immunity.
Trump’s legal team’s letter comes after the Supreme Court ruled earlier on Monday that former Presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
While the ruling will undoubtedly delay the federal criminal case into Trump’s alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election results, it could also change the trajectory of the hush money trial, which resulted in the former President being convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Trump’s sentencing is currently scheduled for July 11.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein denied Trump’s bid to move his hush money trial from a state court in New York to a federal court, stating the allegations at the center of the case did not “reflect in any way the color of the President’s official duties.”
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