Judge Gives Trump a Big Legal Victory

Donald Trump will not be sentenced in his hush-money case before Election Day after all. The Manhattan judge in the case, Juan Merchan, said Friday that the former president will be sentenced on November 26, reports the Hill. Merchan originally intended to sentence Trump this month, but he agreed to a request from Trump to push back the date while the former president appeals his conviction. Prosecutors did not object and instead deferred to the judge. The New York Times sees it as a "significant victory" for Trump, given that voters won't cast votes knowing whether he will see actual jail time.

Trump technically faces up to four years in prison, though the Washington Post notes that as a first-time offender he also could receive no jail time at all. He was found guilty in May of covering up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who had threatened to go public during the 2016 election with details of an alleged tryst a decade earlier. Trump's legal team, meanwhile, is appealing the conviction. (More Donald Trump stories.)