Trump’s legal team expected to request NY judge to cancel sentencing in hush money case

 The Trump legal team is going to try to make sure his upcoming sentencing in New York for his conviction earlier this year in the hush money case does not happen. In the past they have been focused on delaying proceedings in the case, but now they are going to try to get it canceled all together, according to a source familiar with the strategy.

Trump’s attorneys are expected to enter a filing over the next few days arguing that as a president-elect, Donald Trump is entitled to the same Constitutional protections as a sitting president and should be protected from any action by state prosecutors.

The filling is expected before Judge Juan Merchan’s self-imposed deadline of November 12 to decide whether to wipe away Trump’s conviction after the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.

More context: Should Merchan move ahead with sentencing, Trump could be ordered to serve as much as four years of prison time, but the judge is not required to sentence the president-elect to prison, and he could impose a lesser sentence, such as probation, home confinement, community service or a fine.

Any sentence, of course, will be complicated by the fact that Trump is set to take office on January 20, 2025. Trump’s lawyers are likely to shape their appeals to raise constitutional issues challenging whether a state judge can sentence a president-elect, which could tie the case up in courts for years.

Since it is a state case, Trump does not have the power to pardon himself next year after he is sworn into office.