Donald Trump loses federal appeal bid to block New York criminal hush money sentencing
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected former President Donald Trump's request to freeze a court ruling that allows his New York hush money criminal sentencing to go forward on Nov. 26.
The ruling at issue came from federal trial Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who said he wouldn't remove the case from the hands of New York trial Judge Juan Merchan and block Trump's upcoming sentencing.
In its short Thursday order, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit seconded Hellerstein's ruling. It said it was denying Trump's "emergency" request in light of the sentencing delay he has already gotten. Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18, but on Sept. 6 Merchan granted the Republican presidential nominee's request to push the date back past the election.
Spokespeople for Trump and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
Hellerstein had already rejected a request from Trump to temporarily undo his own decision.
The flurry of court activity comes as Trump attempts to prevent Merchan from sentencing him on the 34 guilty verdicts he received for falsifying business documents. The jury determined that he was covering up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that was part of a conspiracy to unlawfully interfere in the 2016 election.
In refusing to take the case out of Merchan's hands, Hellerstein said Trump's arguments alleging Merchan is biased should be handled by state appeals courts, and that Trump shouldn't be able to jump into federal court after his trial because, contrary to Trump's argument, he wasn't prosecuted for official presidential acts that contravene the Supreme Court's July 1 presidential immunity ruling.
Before his sentencing was delayed, Trump told the appeals court that it needed to intervene because otherwise his September sentencing would interfere with the election. After the delay, his lawyers said in a letter that the appeals court should still help him because federal courts, rather than a state court, should be deciding the presidential immunity issue. Merchan has said he will rule on it Nov. 12.
Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office opposed Trump's request, arguing that letting Trump move the case to federal court "would be extraordinarily disruptive and disrespectful" to Merchan's state court.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump loses federal appeal bid to block New York hush money sentencing