Alvin Bragg Wants Donald Trump’s Sentencing Postponed

New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg sent a letter to the judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump’s hush money case, saying that he will oppose the Republican’s motion for dismissal and asking for the case to be continued until December 9.

“The People believe that the court should set a motion schedule for Defendant’s forthcoming motion to dismiss, which the people intend to oppose,” the letter, shown below, reads.

“Assuming Defendant is permitted by the court to file a motion to dismiss and does so promptly, the People ask that their response to defendant’s motion be due on Monday, December 9.

“The People believe that further proceedings before this Court should be adjourned to permit litigation of Defendant’s forthcoming motion to dismiss and, therefore, the People would not oppose a defense motion for a stay of further proceedings before this Court while Defendant’s motion is adjudicated.”

Newsweek reached out to Bragg’s office by email on Tuesday.

The letter comes after an automated schedule alert caused some confusion as to whether the case had been put back.

The Manhattan district attorney told Fox News that a Bloomberg report on Tuesday claiming that Trump’s sentencing for 34 criminal charges has been “adjourned” was not correct. The message came from a court email about all dates staying as slated.

Trump ally and far-right activist Laura Loomer had posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s hush money trial, “just adjourned President Trump’s November 26^th sentencing date.”

Anna Bower, the senior editor of Lawfare, a nonprofit multimedia publication focusing on law and national security policy, posted to X that any assumption that that meant the hearing had been put back beyond November 26 was incorrect.

“The “hearing type” is listed as “adjournment,” which Laura Loomer and several news outlets took to mean that the sentencing had been delayed,” Bower posted to X. “But that just means the hearing was adjourned *to* Nov. 26 (from previous date, Sept. 6).”

In May, Trump became the first former U.S. president to be criminally convicted when he was found guilty in a hush money case. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

He was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a scheme to conceal hush money payments made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 presidential election, in exchange for her silence about an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

The conviction came after multiple delays in the case, due to a series of tactics deployed by his legal team as well as a Supreme Court ruling in July that found that former presidents have some immunity from criminal prosecution for “official” actions.

As a result of the ruling, three other criminal cases Trump is involved in have also faced delays. These include the classified documents case, as well as state and federal cases in which he is accused of election interference. Trump denies wrongdoing in all cases.

Meanwhile, the hush money case could still face further delays after Trump won the election, and the conviction could even be thrown out.

Merchan is able to still move to either delay Trump’s sentencing until after his term in office, dismiss the case overall, or grant a sentence of unconditional discharge. The latter would leave the conviction but have Trump free from prison time, fines or probation.

Last week, Merchan delayed the decision on whether to throw out the convictions until November 19.

Trump’s lawyers argued over the weekend that there are “strong reasons for the requested stay, and eventually dismissal of the case in the interests of justice.”

Merchan delayed Trump’s sentencing until 26 November. In September, he said the decision was made “to avoid any appearance—however unwarranted—that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate.”

Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced on 10 July.

He faces up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine for each of the 34 felony counts.