Former President Donald Trump will not be sentenced in his New York criminal case until after the 2024 presidential election, Judge Juan Merchan announced Friday. Merchan's decision to delay the sentencing is partly to avoid any appearance of affecting the outcome of the race.
Merchan wrote in a four-page letter that he would sentence Trump on November 26 – if necessary – in response to a request from Trump's lawyers to push back the sentencing. The former president was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to an adult-film star alleging an affair with him.
Merchan noted the upcoming presidential election in his decision to delay sentencing, stating that part of his reason was to avoid the appearance that the sentencing was intended to influence the November election. "Adjourning decision on the motion and sentencing, if such is required, should dispel any suggestion that the Court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to, or to create a disadvantage for, any political party and or any candidate for any office," Merchan wrote.
Trump expressed appreciation for the language Merchan used in delaying his sentencing, noting that it will only commence "if necessary." However, the former president falsely claimed that the sentencing was "postponed" because he "did nothing wrong."
In addition to pushing back the sentencing until November 26, Merchan also wrote that he would decide on Trump's motion to vacate the verdict due to the Supreme Court's immunity ruling on November 12, which is after the election. Merchan acknowledged the historic nature of Trump's hush money trial and the need to respect the jury's verdict while also protecting the former president's constitutional rights.
The decision to delay the sentencing until after the November 5 election marks another delay in Trump's criminal cases, which have been a fixture since he was indicted four times in 2023. The only indictment that went to trial this year was the New York hush money case, and now the sentencing in that trial – with the question looming about whether a jail sentence will be imposed – won't occur until after the election, if it happens at all.
The delay means that Trump's criminal conviction, which dominated the news cycle during the spring, won't return to the forefront of the presidential campaign during the final weeks of the race. It also could mean that the election will not interfere with any sentence that Merchan might impose.
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