After US election: Decision on Trump immunity postponed for a week

A week after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, a judge in New York postponed a decision on the Republican’s possible immunity in a hush money trial for a week. Corresponding requests from the public prosecutor and defense were granted. A decision will now be announced on November 19th, according to court documents available to the German Press Agency in New York.

Judge Juan Mercan had actually decided at the beginning of September that he wanted to announce his decision today. If he were to grant Trump’s defense’s request for immunity, the guilty verdict against Trump in May would probably have been overturned. However, if the judge rejects the application, the question would remain as to whether the sentence announcement currently planned for the end of November will stand.

Convicted felon as US President

Jurors in New York found Trump guilty on 34 counts at the end of May. The trial concerned the illegal concealment of hush money payments to a porn actress in order to gain advantages in the 2016 presidential election campaign. It was the first time in United States history that a former president was convicted of a crime. Last week, Trump was re-elected as US President as a convicted felon – also a first in the country’s history.

The sentence was originally supposed to have been announced in mid-September. But then Judge Merchan granted Trump’s request that the punishment not be announced until after the presidential election. Theoretically, the Republican could face a maximum of several years in prison. Before the election, however, many observers considered a suspended sentence to be much more likely. There has also never been a sentencing announcement for a president-elect in the history of the United States.

Landmark ruling of the Supreme Court as leverage

Trump’s defense had already tried every means possible during the trial to hinder and stop the proceedings altogether. Trump’s lawyers then came across a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court: At the beginning of July, the US Supreme Court, with its right-wing conservative majority of judges, decided that presidents enjoy extensive immunity for their official actions.

The New York hush money case itself is different because it primarily revolves around Trump’s actions as a presidential candidate before the 2016 election. But the Supreme Court ruling also means that official actions of US presidents cannot be used as evidence in criminal proceedings. Trump’s lawyers argue that the prosecution in the case also relied on evidence from Trump’s time in the White House.