Trump became the first former US president to be convicted of felony crimes and was originally scheduled to be sentenced next week.
The judge overseeing Donald Trump's hush money case has granted a request to delay the former US president's sentencing until at least September.
Tuesday's decision follows a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that ordered broad criminal immunity for presidents in their official acts.
Trump's legal team had cited the high court's decision in a letter to Judge Juan Merchán requesting a postponement of sentencing, which was originally scheduled for July 11.
Lawyers representing Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, told Merchan that they needed time to build their case that Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents to cover up hush money payments made to an adult actress should be overturned in light of the Supreme Court's ruling.
Before Merchán's decision, prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office said Trump's argument was “without merit” but agreed to delay sentencing.
Merchan said sentencing would be delayed until at least September 18, less than two months before the November 8 election.
Prosecutors had argued that Trump falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 payment from his former lawyer Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.
They directly linked the payments to a broader scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.
In their letter to Merchán, Trump’s lawyers argued that during the trial, prosecutors had presented evidence implicating Trump’s official acts as president, including social media posts he made and conversations he had while in the White House.
That evidence should have been protected under presidential immunity, the lawyers said, according to Monday's Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling by the six-judge majority of the nine-member court says presidents have “absolute immunity” from criminal liability for any act within their “basic constitutional powers.” Evidence related to those official acts also cannot be introduced at trial, the majority opinion says.
But the ruling, which was criticized by the court's three liberal justices, said presidents could still be prosecuted for acts that exceed those powers. The exact limits remain unclear.
In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the decision opened the door to “nightmare scenarios,” including possible immunity for killing a political rival.
“In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law,” he wrote.
Political implications
The Supreme Court's ruling bodes well for Trump, who faces three additional criminal trials.
It is expected to be the most vexing yet for the legal argument at the center of a federal case related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election after his loss to President Joe Biden.
It could also have implications for a state trial in Georgia related to efforts to pressure officials to change the 2020 vote count, as well as a second federal trial related to Trump’s alleged hiding and hoarding of classified White House documents at his Florida estate.
The New York trial, however, was the only one expected to end before the election. While the initial guilty verdict did not show a major shift in support for Trump, analysts have argued that a harsh sentence could turn off some potential Trump voters.
Merchán's decision comes five days after Biden had a dismal showing in the first presidential debate against Trump, sending the Democrat's campaign into damage control and highlighting concerns about the 81-year-old's age.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll was released on Tuesday showing that one in three Democrats think Biden should end his re-election bid after his debate performance. Still, the poll found that no prominent elected Democrat would perform better than Biden in a hypothetical matchup against Trump.
On Wednesday, Biden reportedly planned to meet with Democratic governors in an effort to allay their concerns.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre also said Biden would give his first post-debate interview to ABC News on Friday and hold a news conference during a NATO conference next week.
He reiterated that Biden has no intention of dropping out of the race.
