A judge ruled on Friday that President-elect Donald Trump will not be sentenced this month in his hush money case, instead setting a schedule for prosecutors and his lawyers to expand on their ideas about what to do next.
Amid a flurry of filings in the case since Trump's election win this month, it had already become clear that the Nov. 26 sentencing date wouldn't hold. Judge Juan M. Merchan's order Friday formalized that without setting a new one.
He called for more filing from both sides over the next 2 1/2 weeks about how to proceed in light of Trump's impending return to the White House.
Trump's lawyers want the case dismissed outright, and now. They've argued that it otherwise would interfere with his presidential transition and duties.
Prosecutors have said they are willing to agree to a delay, potentially until he leaves office, but not that it is dismissed entirely. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a Democrat who has stated the response must be one that strikes a balance between the duties of the presidency and "the sanctity of the jury verdict.
Bragg's office did not respond Friday to comment on the decision. Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung celebrated it as "a decisive win" for Trump.
Trump, the Republican, was convicted in May of falsifying his business' records to hide the true nature of a chain of payments that provided $130,000 to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She received it, through Trump's then-lawyer, in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
It was supposed to be a payoff to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with the married Trump ten years ago. He denies her claim and says he did nothing wrong.
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