New York prosecutors have vowed to oppose President-elect Donald Trump’s effort to overturn his criminal conviction, but they expressed a willingness to wait to sentence him until he completes his upcoming presidential term.Prosecutors urged the judge who is overseeing Trump’s sentence after his guilty verdict to consider options other than dismissal, including holding off until the president-elect is scheduled to leave the White House in 2029.The Manhattan district attorney’s office asked Justice Juan Merchan to set a new deadline of 9 December for both sides to consider the case and file new motions.Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for 26 November, but it could be delayed further.In May, Trump was convicted on 34 charges of falsifying business records, stemming from an attempt to cover up a potential sex scandal ahead of his first presidential victory in 2016.A few weeks later, however, the US Supreme Court held in a separate case that presidents enjoy a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts.”Trump’s lawyers want a judge to overturn his New York conviction on the grounds of presidential immunity, and because of his impending term in the White House.But prosecutors argued on Tuesday that the issues at the centre of their case did not have to do with official presidential duties. They stressed that the trial and conviction occurred before the US Supreme Court decided this summer that presidents had broad protection from criminal prosecution.They did acknowledge Justice Merchan’s “need to balance competition consititutional interests”, however.They asked the judge to consider “non-dismissal options” that could included “deferral of all remaining criminal proceedings until after the end of Defendant’s upcoming presidential term”.“The DA is saying that the court should put off sentencing until after Trump leaves the …
