US judge postpones Trump sentencing in NY hush money trial
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00:00For Donald Trump, the road to the elections has just become a bit more straightforward.
00:05That's after a Manhattan court on Friday postponed the former president's sentencing in his so-called
00:09hush money case.
00:11It will now take place on November 26th, exactly three weeks after U.S. elections.
00:17Trump immediately reacted, welcoming the decision.
00:20Everyone realizes that there was no case because I did nothing wrong.
00:24It's a witch hunt.
00:25An attack by my political opponents in Washington, D.C.
00:30In his four-page ruling, Judge Juan Merchan said he wanted a sentencing free of any election
00:34distractions and to avoid the unwarranted perception of political motive.
00:39I think what the judge did here is said, I am going to give this defendant a fair shot
00:45either way, that no matter what, this court is going to continue to be impartial.
00:50And even if there's any inkling of impropriety, we're going to dispel that.
00:55Back in May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying records over a payment by his
01:00ex-lawyer to silence porn star Stormy Daniels over an alleged affair with Trump before the
01:062016 election.
01:08He was set to be sentenced in July this year, but that was delayed when the Supreme Court
01:12ruled as a former president, he enjoyed broad immunity from criminal prosecutions.
01:18Using this argument, his lawyers tried to get the conviction dismissed with the immunity
01:22ruling now set for November 12th, two weeks before his new hush money sentencing date.
01:28If the judge agrees with Trump and says that the immunity decision applies and this case
01:34should be thrown out for lack of a better word, then the case will not have a sentencing.
01:39If however the judge does not agree with Trump, then there will be a sentencing.
01:44While this latest postponement represents good fortune for Trump, it also brings complications
01:48ahead of the runoff with Kamala Harris.
01:51The delay spares Trump the specter of being in court and possibly ordered to jail in the
01:57final weeks of his campaign to take back the White House.
02:00On the other hand, it means that voters will have to cast their ballots without knowing
02:04whether the Republican nominee could be going to jail.
02:08Facing several legal challenges at once, Trump was also in court earlier on Friday over a
02:13case of sexual assault and defamation brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, in which he's been
02:18ordered to pay $5 million in damages.