Donald Trump's sentencing in his New York hush-money case won't happen until September—if it happens at all. Judge Juan Merchan, in response to legal filings from Trump's team after Monday's Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, pushed the sentencing date back Tuesday from July 11 until September 18 at the earliest, the Washington Post reports. Trump's lawyers argue that his 34 felony convictions in the case should be overturned because some of the events in the case happened while Trump was president, reports the BBC.
Merchan said he will consider how the Supreme Court decision affects the case and issue a ruling on September 6, followed by sentencing on September 18 "if such is still necessary," the AP reports. Earlier Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said he would be open to delaying sentencing, but only until July 24.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed "TOTAL EXONERATION," saying the "impact of the Immunity Ruling is a loud and clear signal for Justice in the United States." Legal experts, however, say the Trump team's argument for immunity could fail. "The allegations in the New York fraud case in which Trump was convicted seem clearly to relate to unofficial conduct by Trump, none of which would seem to involve his official duties," Mark Zauderer, an appellate attorney in New York, tells the BBC. (More Trump hush-money trial stories.)