Following a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court on the immunity of US presidents, there are indications of a delay in the sentencing of Donald Trump in his New York trial.
The public prosecutor's office wrote in a letter to the judge in charge, Juan Merchan, that it had no objections to a later date for the announcement of the sentence.
For its part, the prosecution asked for a deadline of July 24 to respond to a motion by Trump to vacate the conviction. If Merchan agrees, the sentencing announcement set for July 11 would be delayed by at least two weeks.
The background to this is that Trump is challenging the judgement against him following a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court on Monday. The judgement states that US presidents enjoy extensive protection from prosecution for official actions in office.
The move by Trump's lawyers was expected and is likely to be futile because the New York case centres to a significant extent on actions that took place before his presidency.
A few weeks ago, a jury in New York found the ex-president guilty on 34 charges. The trial centred on the illegal concealment of hush money payments to a porn actress.
It was the first time in the history of the United States that a former president was convicted of a criminal offence. In the worst case scenario, Trump could face several years in prison.
