Trump asks federal appeals court to delay his criminal hush money case

Former President Donald Trump on Monday asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to delay his criminal hush money case in New York, after the judge overseeing the case delayed Trump's sentencing.

New York Judge Juan Merchan on Friday delayed the sentencing date from Sept. 18 until Nov. 26, and said he would issue a ruling Nov. 12 on whether to dismiss the verdict on the grounds of presidential immunity.

Defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove on Monday sought an "en banc" hearing on Trump's motion to pause the proceedings indefinitely so a federal court could resolve the applicability of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent presidential immunity opinion.

"Such a stay is appropriate in order to preserve Trump's right to a fair and orderly litigation of the Presidential immunity defense in a federal forum," Blanche and Bove wrote in a letter to the Second Circuit.

In response, the Manhattan's district attorney's office asked the Second Circuit to deny the request, pending appeal.

"The stay requested by defendant is not only legally unavailable, but also unnecessary in light of the state criminal court's adjournment of the sentencing," the DA's office argued in a court filing.

Trump was found guilty in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump is seeking to have the case dismissed after the Supreme Court ruled in a blockbuster decision that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken while in office.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein, in a ruling last week denying Trump's bid to move the case from state court into federal court, wrote that "Nothing in the Supreme Court's opinion affects my previous conclusion that the hush money payments were private, unofficial acts, outside the bounds of executive authority."

Trump's attorneys subsequently asked the Second Circuit to stay Hellerstein's ruling.