2nd Circuit rejects Donald Trump’s request to halt postconviction proceedings in hush money case
Associated PressNEW YORK — A federal appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s request to halt postconviction proceedings in his hush money criminal case, leaving a key ruling and the former president’s sentencing on track for after the November election. Trump appealed to the 2nd Circuit after a federal judge last week thwarted the Republican nominee’s request to have the U.S. District Court in Manhattan seize control of the case from the state court where it was tried. The trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, announced the delay last Friday and said he now plans to rule Nov. 12 on Trump’s request to overturn the verdict and toss out the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling. Merchan explained that he was postponing the sentencing to avoid any appearance that the proceeding “has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate.” Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.