Trump's Manhattan Sentencing Postponed Until After Election Day

Justice Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over former President Donald Trump’s Manhattan 'hush money' case, in which he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal, has postponed sentencing until November 26 -after the US presidential election. The decision significantly derisks Trump's exposure to the legal issues that had threatened to undermine his presidential campaign.

• The decision was widely expected, as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg raised no objections to Trump's request to postpone sentencing in light of a recent Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents broad immunity from prosecution.
• The other ongoing Trump cases remain stalled. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over the federal election subversion case in Washington DC, yesterday laid out a new schedule for the prosecution to submit filings, following the SCOTUS ruling.
• Politico notes: “Special counsel Jack Smith’s team now has until Sept. 26 to file an “opening briefing” about why the case should still stand, while the defense gets until Oct. 17 to reply. Smith will get to respond to the defense in his own second filing, due Oct. 29 — just one week before the election.”
• Politico adds: “Chutkan’s new schedule opens the possibility that we could see a bit of an “October surprise” ... Smith’s late-September filing is expected to include evidence he’d present in a would-be trial on this matter, meaning the briefs could be, ‘jammed with new and explosive evidence.’”