A New York appeals court denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request for a stay of his sentencing hearing later this week, a major blow to the leader-in-waiting before his inauguration.
Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer issued a short order denying the defense’s request to postpone the sentencing, which is planned for Friday.
“After consideration of the papers submitted and the extensive oral argument, movant’s application for an interim stay is denied,” the justice wrote.
The defense wants Mr. Trump’s convictions for falsifying business records in Manhattan to evaporate, period, given a Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity and Mr. Trump’s election win in November.
“This doctrine of sitting-president immunity mandates the immediate dismissal, not just a stay, of any pending criminal case against President Trump, regardless of the stage of proceedings,” defense attorney Todd Blanche wrote to the state Appellate Division: First Judicial Department. “Once President Trump was re-elected, the jury verdict in the underlying criminal case should have been immediately vacated, and the case dismissed.”
The appeals judge wasn’t swayed, leaving Mr. Trump on track to face the ignominy of a sentencing hearing before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
SEE ALSO: Federal judge temporarily blocks release of Jack Smith’s report on Trump
State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said he will not impose jail time on the president-elect. But Mr. Trump is furious that the case — and his status as a felon — remains intact. Mr. Trump recently said Judge Merchan should be disbarred.
At trial, prosecutors said Mr. Trump criminally concealed a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels around the 2016 campaign with an intent to violate election laws.
They said Mr. Trump paid Ms. Daniels through Michael Cohen and concealed reimbursements to the lawyer in 2017 by misidentifying checks.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers said he was busy running the country and thought he was paying Mr. Cohen for legal services, so his team logged the checks in that manner.
They also said the trial was politically motivated and designed to thwart Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.
A jury convicted Mr. Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Liberal opponents of the president-elect hoped his legal troubles would sink him. Instead, he seemed to thrive from the adversity and won the GOP primary and general election against Vice President Kamala Harris.
Special counsel Jack Smith moved to dismiss federal cases against Mr. Trump, and a Georgia racketeering case against Mr. Trump is in limbo due to a conflict of interest concerning Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Despite the setback in New York, Mr. Trump beamed after a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from releasing Mr. Smith’s final report on the federal probes.
U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon said she was enjoining the release while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reviews an emergency request from Mr. Trump’s codefendants that says the release would cause them irreparable harm.
“That’s a big story,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference upon learning of the judge’s decision. “It will only be a fake report. That’s great news.”
Mr. Trump’s team saw a draft copy of the special counsel’s report on investigations into the president-elect’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and store classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office.
Judge Cannon’s order prevents the Justice Department from sharing the report with anyone outside the department.
Mr. Smith moved to dismiss his cases against Mr. Trump, citing precedents that sitting presidents should not be criminally prosecuted. Yet he drafted a final report as the final record of his work.
Lawyers for Mr. Trump say that releasing the final report would violate the Presidential Transition Act and Presidential Immunity Doctrine.
They also said releasing the reports would “be nothing more than a lawless political stunt, designed to politically harm President Trump and justify the huge sums of taxpayer money Smith unconstitutionally spent on his failed and dismissed case.”
Mr. Trump appointed Judge Cannon during his first term. She’s delivered favorable rulings to Mr. Trump and dismissed the Mar-a-Lago documents case on the grounds that Mr. Smith was unlawfully appointed, leading liberals to accuse the judge of seeking favor or even a Supreme Court appointment.
Mr. Trump turned the focus back onto Mr. Smith during a news conference Tuesday morning, hours after he sought to block the release of Mr. Smith’s report.
“He’s a deranged individual,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Smith. “I guess he’s on his way back to The Hague. And we won those cases. Those were the biggest ones. And the press made such a big deal out of them. But we did nothing wrong. We did nothing wrong on anything.”
• Mallory Wilson contributed to this story.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.