U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Monday lost a bid to put off his sentencing on Friday for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to a porn star.
Citing both presidential immunity and the demands of Trump’s impending Jan. 20 inauguration, his lawyers on Monday morning said Justice Juan Merchan’s intention not to penalize Trump was “of no moment.”
“Presidential immunity violations cannot be ignored in favor of a rushed pre-inauguration sentencing,” the lawyers wrote in a court filing.
In a written ruling later on Monday, Merchan said Trump’s motion was mostly “a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past.” The judge declined to push back Trump’s Jan. 10 sentencing, a date he had set just last week.
In scheduling Trump’s sentencing for Friday, the judge noted last week that he was not inclined to send Trump to jail. He wrote that a sentence of unconditional discharge, effectively putting a judgment of guilt on his record without a fine or probation, would be the most practical approach given Trump’s looming inauguration.
The judge said Trump, 78, may appear at his sentencing either in person or virtually.