Criminal Cases Against Trump Face Delays, But Continue

New York Judge Delays Trump’s Criminal Sentencing Until After Presidential Election

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s New York State trial, in which the former president was found guilty in May, said that he would wait until November 26, after the presidential election, to sentence Trump. Sentencing had originally been set for September 18. 

Susan Walsh/AP

Trump, who is the Republican nominee for president in November, was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide $130,000 paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about their 2006 tryst in a Lake Tahoe hotel suite. The payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, who was then reimbursed, with the repayment falsely identified as legal fees.

Despite the delay, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan stressed in his opinion granting it that a jury of ordinary New Yorkers had found Trump guilty. “The members of this jury served diligently in this case, and their verdict must be respected and addressed,” he wrote.

Sentencing could result in up to four years in prison for the former president, but  but experts have said that first time offenders, like Trump, for similar crimes are often not sentenced to jail time.

The legal battle is one of several that the former president is engaged in. 

New Indictment Filed in Federal DC Case

In late August, special counsel Jack Smith obtained a new indictment from a federal grand jury against Trump in which the former President is once again alleged to have broken the law in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The indictment was revised to remove some allegations brought against Trump because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that presidents cannot be charged in relation to actions they took that can be deemed to be “official acts” of their office.