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full screenDonald Trump’s lawyers want the Supreme Court to cancel Friday’s announcement of the penalty in the case in which he was convicted of paying “hush money” to a woman he had sex with. Archive image. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT
Donald Trump wants the Supreme Court to stop a lower court from announcing the president-elect’s sentence, after he was previously convicted in the case of “hush money” to a woman he had sex with.
It comes after the New York court refused to delay Friday’s announcement. Judge Juan Merchan, however, has said that he will not impose prison terms, fines or similar probation.
The incoming American president was convicted this spring, by a unanimous jury, as guilty on all 34 counts listed by the prosecutors.
The gist of the case was that he had arranged for money to be paid to porn star Stormy Daniels in order for her, in the 2016 presidential campaign, to keep quiet about having sex a number of years earlier. Trump denies the crime and that he had sex with Daniels.
Trump’s lawyers argue that their client can no longer be punished because some evidence in the case is from the time of his first term as president, 2017-2021. The argument comes in light of the Supreme Court’s decision this summer granting the president extended legal immunity. The lawyers believe that the judgment in New York contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision.