(6 Sep 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Elwood, New York – 6 September 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Sisak, The Associated Press:
"The Donald Trump sentencing in his hush money criminal case in New York City has been postponed until after the November election. Specifically, sentencing is now scheduled for November 26th. Trump had been fighting hard to delay sentencing, which was originally scheduled for September 18th, about seven weeks before Election Day. Trump, his lawyers, they argued that holding sentencing so close to the election would amount to election interference. Trump, of course, is the Republican nominee, facing off with Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, in the November election."
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Sisak, The Associated Press:
"The judge said in his four page decision that this is a case that stands alone in the nation’s history. The first criminal prosecution of a former president and a former president who is the leading candidate in his party, the Republican nominee going into an election in November. Taking all of that into account, Judge Merchan wrote that he wanted to have a sentencing that was free of those distractions and free of the suggestion that sentencing was meant to influence the election one way or the other."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Michael Sisak, The Associated Press:
"The delay spares Trump the specter of being in court and possibly ordered to jail in the final weeks of his campaign to take back the White House. On the other hand, it means that voters will have to cast their ballots without knowing whether the Republican nominee could be going to jail. Of course, other punishment he faces include a fine or probation. And this is all after his conviction in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
A judge agreed Friday to postpone Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case until after the November election, granting him a hard-won reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his presidential campaign.
Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who is also weighing a defense request to overturn the verdict on immunity grounds, delayed Trump’s sentencing until Nov. 26, three weeks after the final votes are cast in the presidential election.
It had been scheduled for Sept. 18, about seven weeks before Election Day. The new date is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.
The delay, the latest bit of good legal fortune for Trump, means the presidential election will be decided without voters knowing if the Republican nominee is going to jail.
Merchan explained in a four-page decision that he was postponing the sentencing “to avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.”
Trump’s lawyers pushed for the delay on multiple fronts, petitioning the judge and asking a federal court to intervene. They argued that punishing the former president in the thick of his campaign to retake the White House would amount to election interference.
Trump’s lawyers argued that delaying his sentencing until after the election would also allow him time to weigh next steps after Merchan rules on the defense’s request to reverse his conviction and dismiss the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling.
In his order Friday, Merchan delayed a decision on that until Nov. 12.
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