Donald Trump on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to intervene in his criminal hush money case and stop his sentencing from going ahead on Friday.
The request to the nation’s high court came a day after Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, failed to convince a New York appeals court to halt the sentencing scheduled for Friday at 9:30 a.m. as he appeals a set of rulings by the trial court judge, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
“President Trump is already suffering grave irreparable injury from the disruption and distraction that the trial court abruptly inflicted by suddenly scheduling a sentencing hearing for the President-Elect of the United States, on five days’ notice, at the apex of the Presidential transition,” reads the emergency petition filed by Trump lawyers.
“These harms continue to increase as the New York courts deny relief and the sentencing hearing approaches.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, assigned to emergency requests filed in New York, asked the Manhattan district attorney’s office to respond to the request by Thursday at 10 a.m.
In a ruling denying Trump’s request to vacate a jury’s guilty verdict against Trump and dismiss the underlying indictment, Merchan on Friday unexpectedly scheduled Trump’s sentencing for 10 days before his inauguration. The judge said he was inclined to impose an unconditional discharge, meaning Trump would not face jail time or any other punishment, and said Trump could appear by video.
In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said, “President Trump’s legal team filed an emergency petition with the United States Supreme Court, asking the Court to correct the unjust actions by New York courts and stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt.”
A spokeswoman for the Manhattan DA told the Daily News prosecutors would respond in court papers.
A jury on May 30 found Trump, 78, guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from a scheme to hide embarrassing details about his past from the electorate in 2016.
The case centered on payments he made to Michael Cohen after his first presidential term began, which reimbursed his longtime former fixer for paying off porn star Stormy Daniels in the leadup to the election. Trial evidence showed Daniels was one of three hush money recipients.
The Manhattan criminal case was the only one of four brought against Trump after his first term that made it before a jury. It set him up to become the first convicted felon to serve as U.S. president. As the charges are state-level, he cannot pardon himself. He is expected to appeal his conviction if his sentencing goes ahead.