Manhattan D.A. Concedes Trump Can’t Be Sentenced—but It’s Not Over Yet

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s sentencing for his hush-money case. But while his lawyers want the felony convictions thrown out together, prosecutors aren’t willing to toss the case just yet. 

The district attorney’s office wrote a letter to Judge Juan Merchan admitting that Trump probably won’t be sentenced anytime soon given his recent presidential victory. The office wants Merchan to let the felony convictions stand, while also going back to the drawing board on sentencing until the president-elect’s term is up in four years. 

This case involves the $130,000 in hush-money payments that Trump had his adviser Michael Cohen make out to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 election, buying her silence for an affair she had with Trump a decade earlier. A jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts. 

This is the latest in a devastating series of legal victories for Trump, as his other three indictments—the Georgia election interference case, the federal election interference case related to January 6, and the classified documents case—have all been put on freeze, at least until he’s done with his second term as president. This is just as Trump intended, as his strategy of avoiding justice by winning the election has worked beautifully.   

Trump’s lawyers still want the charges in all these cases to be dropped entirely based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of broad presidential immunity. 

“The clock ran out,” CNN senior political analyst Elie Honig said. “We like to say no person is above the law in this country, but the fact is one person largely is, and that’s the president, because of the immunity ruling and because of the DOJ policy.” 

In the hush-money trial, Trump’s sentencing has been delayed repeatedly thanks to the immunity ruling and the election. It still remains to be seen what Merchan ultimately decides after the Manhattan district attorney’s filing.