The US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to block his New York hush-money sentencing, which now remains set for 9:30 a.m. on Friday.
The high court’s decision means Trump must attend the sentencing or face a potential bench warrant for his arrest just 10 days before Inauguration Day.
His lawyers last week asked that he be allowed to attend by video, a request approved by his trial judge, state Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did not oppose Trump attending virtually and said Thursday that his office will not seek jail, fines, or probation at what will likely be a very brief hearing.
Trump had fought hard to avoid sentencing despite facing little inconvenience or penalty, outside some potential issues with his New Jersey liquor licenses.
Over the past week, his lawyers had argued in four courthouses — in Manhattan, Albany, and Washington, DC — that any invocation of presidential immunity automatically entitles Trump to a stay pending appeal, even before he is sworn in.
In their opposition filings, Manhattan prosecutors scoffed at the idea that “president-elect immunity” is even a thing. The US Supreme Court’s landmark July 1 opinion granted presidents broad immunity from prosecution, but made no mention of immunity prior to swearing in, lawyers for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
“Defendant’s novel invocation of President-elect immunity does not warrant his Court’s premature intervention” in an ongoing state criminal case, Bragg told the high court in papers filed Thursday morning.
Defense lawyers have promised to file a post-sentencing appeal of the conviction, with SCOTUS if necessary, given what they say were violations of Trump’s constitutional rights prior to and during the trial.
In their primary example, they say grand jurors and trial jurors in the hush-money case improperly heard evidence that includes acts Trump took in his official role as president, which prosecutors are now barred from using.
That official-act evidence, all from 2018, includes tweets Trump sent, a federal form he signed, and a conversation he had in the Oval Office with Hope Hicks, his communications director.
Prosecutors and the trial judge, Merchan have argued that even if this was official-act evidence, it was a “harmless error” to share it with jurors, given the other overwhelming proof of guilt.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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