Former US President Donald Trump's sentencing on July 11 in his hush-money case is expected to be delayed after his lawyers requested the judge set aside his conviction following the Supreme Court's recent immunity ruling.
Manhattan prosecutors, in a letter to Justice Juan Merchan, stated that while they believe Trump's motion to overturn his conviction is "without merit," they do not object to his request to delay the sentencing.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for "official actions" they take while in office.
In May, Trump's conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records was partly based on evidence of meetings and communications that occurred while he was president.
Trump's lawyers cited Monday's ruling in their letter to the judge, arguing that it granted the former president immunity from prosecution for "official actions" taken while in office.
Manhattan prosecutors have asked that the judge respond to Trump's motion by July 24.
Judge Merchan must now decide whether to formally adjourn the sentencing.
Trump's legal team argued that the former president signed off on the records in the hush money case while in office in 2017, though one lawyer suggested this was unlikely to be considered an official act.
They also claimed that during the Manhattan trial, prosecutors presented "highly prejudicial" evidence from his time in the White House, including Trump's 2017 social media posts and testimony about events in the Oval Office.
"The verdicts in this case violate the presidential immunity doctrine and create grave risks of 'an Executive Branch that cannibalizes itself,'" Trump's lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in their letter to Justice Merchan.
Last year, Trump's lawyers similarly argued that the allegations in the case were within the scope of his official presidential duties.
However, a federal judge determined that Trump had failed to show that his conduct was "for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under [scope] of the official acts of a president."
Trump hailed Monday's Supreme Court ruling as a "big win" for democracy. The justices ruled that a president had immunity for "official acts" but was not immune for "unofficial acts."
This ruling related to a separate case against Trump, where he is suspected of trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election result that favored Joe Biden.
President Biden described the Supreme Court ruling as setting a "dangerous precedent" that undermined the "rule of law" in America.
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