Manhattan DA does not oppose Trump sentencing delay following Supreme Court’s immunity decision

The prosecution in former President Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal case responded on Tuesday in a letter that agreed to delay Trump’s sentencing date due to the recent Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

“Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s team said in the letter . They also asked for a July 24 deadline to respond to the defense’s motion.

Following the high court’s ruling, on Monday evening, Trump’s defense team sent a letter to Judge Juan Merchan challenging Trump’s conviction and arguing that the prosecution used official presidential acts in their evidence to prosecute him:

“By way of background, on March 7, 2024, President Trump filed a motion in limine to preclude evidence of his official acts based on the presidential immunity doctrine. ... Under Trump, this official-acts evidence should never have been put before the jury. Consistent with arguments that we made before and during the trial, the Supreme Court held in Trump that President Trump ‘may not be prosecuted for exercising his core constitutional powers, and he is entitled, at a minimum, to a presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts.’”

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is currently scheduled to return for his sentencing on July 11, but that is now likely to change. With both parties now publicly on board with postponing Trump’s sentencing, Merchan is expected to change the date. The decision is ultimately up to him.

In the “hush money” case, Trump was found guilty on May 30 of all 34 counts — including falsifying business records — against him in the case brought against him by Bragg and is the first president in American history to be convicted of a felony .

If Merchan grants the delay, it will likely occur after the Republican National Convention, which is in Milwaukee on July 15 and where Trump is expected to be deemed the GOP’s official presidential nominee.