CNN
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A New York Court of Appeals judge has denied Donald Trump’s request to postpone Friday’s ruling in his hush money case.
Associate Judge Ellen Gesmer quickly denied President Trump’s request after a brief hearing on the issue Tuesday afternoon.
President Trump on Tuesday halted proceedings in his hush money case, including sentencing scheduled for Friday, while he appeals his conviction after trial court Judge Juan Melchán denied his request to halt the sentencing. asked to do so.
Todd Blanche, President Trump’s lawyer and the president-elect’s nominee to serve as deputy attorney general in the new administration, told the New York First Department Appellate Division on Tuesday to halt Trump’s sentence, acknowledging the unprecedented situation. argued that it should be done.
Blanche said the Supreme Court’s July decision on presidential immunity provides constitutional protection for President Trump. Mr. Marchand rejected two arguments to vacate Mr. Trump’s conviction, but Mr. Blanche argued that both should allow the proceedings to be stayed while the appeal is litigated.
Mr. Gesmer, who presided over the hearing, asked Mr. Blanche if there was any precedent for requesting that presidential privileges be extended to the next president.
“No, because there has never been a case like this before,” replied Mr. Blanche.
Stephen Wu, appellate director for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, argued that Mr. Trump’s lawyers had not presented any argument that the hour-long sentencing hearing would interfere with Mr. Trump’s responsibilities as president-elect.
“This is the perfect time for this to happen here,” Wu said. He acknowledged that the prosecutor’s office agrees with Trump’s legal team that it is much more difficult to seek judgment against a sitting president in a state matter.
“The verdict must come down someday, right?” Mr. Wu said.
Blanche said Trump’s sentencing was “unusual,” adding that a criminal conviction is a “major moment” in someone’s life, even if it only lasts an hour. The judge interrupted Marchan, noting that he would be happy to sentence Trump in July.
President Trump is appealing his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, citing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling and Trump’s status as president-elect. .
Marchand rejected both of those arguments, scheduled sentencing for Friday, and urged Trump’s lawyers to go to the appeals court to seek a stay of sentencing.
However, Marchand indicated that Trump would not face any punishment.
Asked if Marchand’s decision not to impose a prison sentence should be given much weight, Blanche said: “I don’t know how you can give weight to that because it’s hypothetical.”
When Gesmer asked what kind of executive privilege argument would give Trump the decision to suspend his appeal, Blanche said the argument revolves around preserving presidential immunity and using executive privilege in court. It said it was based on Marchand’s December ruling, which dealt with whether there were evidentiary issues. Those arguments, Blanche argued, should allow Trump to halt the proceedings while an appeals court decides whether Marchand was right.
Blanche also argued that the court should take into account the Justice Department’s refusal to prosecute Trump in two federal cases after he was elected president. “There’s no legal precedent, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean we can’t face what happened,” Blanche said.
Gesmer disagreed, saying the analogy was unhelpful.
The judge also asked prosecutors whether there was any precedent for presidential privilege to extend to the next president, an idea Marchan rejected.
Wu later said there was “no basis to that claim” and argued that the president-elect’s immunity theory precludes the idea that there can only be one sitting president at a time.
If the appeals court rules against Trump after Tuesday’s hearing, there are still other appeals he could pursue to block Friday’s ruling.
In May, Trump filed a business record alleging that he paid then-lawyer Michael Cohen $130,000 in hush money to keep adult film star Stormy Daniels from speaking out about an alleged affair before the 2016 election. He was found guilty of 34 counts of tampering with. . (Mr. Trump has denied having an affair.)
Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as president within two weeks. If Trump’s lawyers succeed in stopping the proceedings, the hush-money case could drag on for months while his lawyers pursue an appeal to overturn Trump’s conviction.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Nikki Brown contributed to this report.
