US president-elect is already appealing to Supreme Court to prevent sentencing this week for his criminal conviction.New York’s top court has rejected an attempt by United States President-elect Donald Trump to delay sentencing for his criminal conviction last year over hush-money payments made to an adult film actress.
A New York Court of Appeals judge issued a brief order on Thursday declining to grant a hearing to Trump’s legal team.
That leaves the US Supreme Court as likely the president-elect’s last option to prevent a sentencing hearing from taking place as scheduled on Friday, just 10 days before Trump is set to take office on January 20.
The Republican, who previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, was found guilty in late May on 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film performer.
Prosecutors argued that the payments, made in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, aimed to conceal allegations of a sexual relationship with Daniels that could have been politically damaging. Trump eventually won that race.
But he has denied any such relationship took place and had pleaded not guilty in the case. In May, he became the first US president ever convicted of a crime. Advertisement
He has continued to reject any wrongdoing and says he is the victim of a political “witch hunt”.
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court for an immediate stay of the sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the op …