Donald Trump's New Sentencing Date Raises Eyebrows

Former President Donald Trump has a new sentencing date for his New York felony convictions and the announcement is raising eyebrows less than two days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Trump's favor on presidential immunity.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Monday sided with Trump, ruling that former presidents have absolute immunity against criminal prosecution for official acts conducted while in office. Trump was convicted on 34 felony charges in New York in ay and is facing three other pending criminal cases.

Shortly after the ruling, Trump's lawyers moved to delay his July 11 sentencing hearing in New York, while arguing that his convictions—on 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal "hush money" payments made during his 2016 campaign—should be overturned due to the Supreme Court decision.

On Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over the hush money trial, postponed the sentencing hearing for more than two months, with a new hearing to be held on September 18. The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did not object to Trump's request to delay the sentencing.

The uncertain wording of Merchan's brief order, which noted that he would impose a sentence on the former president "if such is still necessary," prompted many experts across social media to question whether Trump was going to be sentenced at all.

"Absolutely disgusting," lawyer Tristan Snell wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "It does NOT take TWO MONTHS to rule Trump's immunity doesn't apply here since most of the events occurred before he was president and were NOT 'official acts.' STOP IT - TRUMP IS NOT A KING."

"'If such is still necessary'? HE WAS CONVICTED ON 34 FELONY COUNTS OF ELECTION INTERFERENCE," @jkarsh wrote.

"There it is...it's over....judge even says at the end 'for the imposition of sentence, if such is still necessary," wrote @WUTangKids.

However, Dave Aronberg—state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida—told Newsweek that Merchan's decision would only be postponing "the inevitable" for the ex-president, suggesting that Trump's chances of facing jail time had increased.

"I'm not surprised," Aronberg said via direct message on X, formerly Twitter. "A Prosecutors did not object to the postponement. I do not believe the Supreme Court's immunity ruling will impact Trump's guilty verdicts in New York or his sentencing."

"Today, the judge just postponed the inevitable," he added. "If anything, the delay could increase the likelihood of a sentence than includes some incarceration, as Trump will likely attack the judge and the process between now and September."

Meanwhile, Trump himself claimed that the Supreme Court decision meant his "total exoneration" in all legal matters in a post to Truth Social on Tuesday.

"It is clear that the Supreme Court's Brilliantly Written and Historic Decision ENDS all of Crooked Joe Biden's Witch Hunts against me, including the WHITE HOUSE AND DOJ INSPIRED CIVIL HOAXES in New York," Trump wrote.

Update 07/02/24 4:48 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.