United States President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to pause proceedings in his New York criminal case related to hush-money payments to an adult film star.
The court filing released yesterday comes just two days before Trump is set to be sentenced in the case.
Trump was convicted last May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, which prosecutors said Trump did in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election to hide an affair that could have been politically damaging.
Last week, Judge Juan Merchan ordered the sentencing to take place on Friday, just 10 days before Trump takes office.
Read Also: FG pledges adequate compensation for displaced Zungeru communities
In the Supreme Court filing, Trump’s lawyers asked for an immediate stay of the sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government”.
Such a stay would give time for Trump’s ongoing appeal of the case to move forward. The Supreme Court ordered prosecutors to respond to the request by today.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that last year’s Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution means that some of the evidence should not have been presented in the case.