'Smart': Expert lauds judge for quietly killing Trump's chance to appeal before election

The judge in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial showed the nation he's playing chess and not checkers when he delayed the former president's sentencing hearing this week, a legal expert argues.

New York City Justice Juan Merchan's decision to bump Trump's sentencing from July 11 to Sept. 18 shows he is one step ahead of the former president and his legal team, former federal prosecutor and MSNBC analyst Andrew Weissmann argued Tuesday.

"Merchan moving the sentencing to mid September is smart," Weissmann told his followers on X.

The decision comes in response to Trump's move to toss the case — in which he was found guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election — after a controversial Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.

The majority ruled presidents enjoy immunity when conducting certain official acts, which they left up to lower federal courts in Trump's federal criminal cases to decide, in a ruling the dissent described as catastrophic to American democracy.

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Trump's attorneys this week argued the ruling bars evidence — specifically the former president's public statements and tweets — presented during his weeks-long trial in Manhattan criminal court.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office did not challenge Trump's demand to delay sentencing and Merchan then pushed back the date until after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, when Trump is expected to secure his party's presidential nomination.

While Trump's MAGA followers celebrated the delay, Weissmann argued they danced a victory dance before they'd won the battle.

"[The delay] gives Trump and DA and the court time to brief the issues, but Merchan will ultimately reject the weak Trump claims," Weissmann argues.

More importantly still, the timing prevents Trump from appealing to powerful legal allies before he has the chance to reclaim the White House, the former federal prosector concluded.

"The new mid-September sentencing date will make it VERY hard for Trump to then be able to appeal to [Supreme Court] before the election," Weissmann wrote. "As he will have to appeal within NY state courts first."