Trump hush money sentencing delayed until after election

A New York judge on Friday delayed former US President Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money criminal case until after the November 5 election, writing that he wants to avoid the unwarranted perception of a political motive.

Trump, the Republican nominee for president, had previously been scheduled to be sentenced on September 18. His lawyers in August asked Justice Juan Merchan to push back his sentencing date until after the vote, citing "naked election-interference objectives."

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the charges against Trump, is a Democrat. Merchan said on Friday he now planned to sentence Trump on November 26, unless the case is dismissed before then.

"The imposition of sentence will be adjourned to avoid any appearance - however unwarranted - that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching Presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate," the judge wrote. "The Court is a fair, impartial and apolitical institution."

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said after the ruling that the case should be dismissed altogether.

His lawyers also argued there would not be enough time before the sentencing for the defence to potentially appeal Merchan's forthcoming ruling on Trump's request to overturn the conviction due to the US Supreme Court's landmark decision on presidential immunity.

Merchan had been scheduled to rule on that motion on September 16. He wrote on Friday he now plans to rule on that motion on November 12.

In the first-ever criminal trial of a former or current US president, Trump was convicted on May 30 of falsifying business records to cover up his then-lawyer's $130,000 payment to adult movie star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about an encounter she says she had with Trump a decade earlier.

Trump denies the encounter and has vowed to appeal the verdict once he is sentenced.