The judge wrote that he wanted to avoid an unwarranted perception of a political motive for the issuance and timing of the ruling.
The sentencing of Republican presidential candidate Trump was scheduled for Sept. 18. His lawyers in August asked Judge Juan Merchan to delay the date until after the presidential election, citing “clear election interference objectives” by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the charges against Trump, given Bragg’s affiliation with the Democratic Party.
Merchant said Friday he now plans to sentence Trump on Nov. 26, unless the case is dismissed before then.
“The imposition of the sentence will be postponed to avoid any appearance, however unjustified, that the proceedings have influenced or seek to influence the upcoming presidential elections in which the defendant is a candidate,” the judge wrote. “The court is a fair, impartial and non-political institution.”
After the decision, Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung said the case should be dismissed altogether.
“There should be no verdict in the Manhattan District Attorney’s case for election interference,” he said in a statement, calling it an unfair prosecution.
In the first-ever criminal trial of a former or current U.S. president, Trump was convicted on May 30 of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment his then-lawyer made to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Trump denies this and has vowed to appeal the conviction once the sentence is determined.
The penalty for falsifying business records is up to four years in prison, but penalties such as fines or probation are more common for those convicted of the crime before.
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