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Democratic Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not taking a position on former President Donald Trump’s request to delay his sentencing date in New York, according to a filing sent Friday.
Trump’s attorneys asked Judge Juan Merchan last week to push his sentencing, currently set for Sept. 18, until after the November election. In a filing, Bragg’s office said it would “defer to the Court” on whether a delay is necessary to “allow for orderly appellate litigation,” writing they are “prepared to appear for sentencing on any future date the Court sets.”
“The People are also mindful that significant public safety and logistical steps by multiple agencies are necessary to prepare for court appearances in this matter,” prosecutors wrote.
Last week, Trump’s attorneys argued that a delay is necessary to ensure they have “adequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options” if Merchan rejects their motion to set aside the jury’s verdict based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. Merchan has said he intends to rule on the motion Sept. 16.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts for falsifying business records.
Prosecutors acknowledged Trump’s intent to immediately appeal any adverse ruling “may mean that significant preparatory steps are taken, only to have such steps disturbed by appellate litigation.” However, they said none of Trump’s other arguments “merit any consideration.”
Merchan denied last week Trump’s third effort to have him recuse from the case based on his daughter’s role at a political consulting firm that serves Democratic clients, but Trump’s attorneys suggested in their letter that postponing the sentencing date would “mitigate the asserted conflicts and appearances of impropriety.”
“Although couched as a scheduling request, defendant re-raises for the fourth time a recusal grievance based on false claims of a potential conflict that have already been rejected over and over by this Court, the First Department, and the Advisory Committee,” Bragg’s office wrote Friday. “Defendant’s ostensibly new argument about the Court’s family member’s co-worker’s tweets is bizarre and has nothing to do with the post-trial schedule.”
Prosecutors also noted that any sentencing memo would be filed under seal and would only become public if ordered by the Court or “unlawfully” disclosed by Trump.
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