President-elect Donald Trump is still set to be sentenced in his hush money case this week — at least for now — after a New York appeals court judge on Tuesday swiftly rejected his second attempt to get it called off.
Judge Ellen Gesmer, of the state’s mid-level appellate court, denied Trump’s request for an order that would have indefinitely postponed sentencing and halted the case while he appeals a decision last week upholding the verdict.
Gesmer’s ruling leaves Trump’s sentencing on schedule for Friday, though he can still ask other courts to intervene. His lawyers have been fighting for months to have a federal court seize control of the case and have previously suggested taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The judge’s one-sentence decision didn’t give reasons for her denial. At an emergency hearing about an hour before the ruling, she asked probing questions of prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers. The president-elect didn’t attend.
The fast-moving appeals court developments came after the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, on Monday rebuffed Trump’s first attempt to delay his sentencing.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche doubled down on the defense’s contention that Trump can’t be sentenced because, as president-elect, he enjoys the same immunity from criminal proceedings as a president.
“Do you have any support for the notion that presidential immunity extends to the president-elect?” Gesmer asked.
“There’s never been a case like this before. So no,” Blanche responded.
Merchan has rejected the idea of immunity for a president-elect, and prosecutor Steven Wu said it flew in the face of the long-held concept of one president at a time. Trump takes office Jan. 20.
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