New York, 6 September 2024 (dpa/MIA) — A US judge on Friday delayed the sentencing in Republican candidate Donald Trump's hush money trial until after November's presidential election.

Judge Juan Merchan was due to sentence Trump on Sept. 18 after he was found guilty in May in a trial connected to hush money payments in the run-up to the 2016 election, making him the first former US president convicted of a criminal offence.

However, Trump's lawyers argued that a decision on the sentence just a few weeks before the election on Nov. 5 could influence the integrity of the vote.

The sentencing has now been delayed to Nov. 26, court documents showed.

"This matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation's history," Merchan wrote of the decision.

He said the sentencing was "adjourned to avoid any appearance - however unwarranted - that the proceeding has been affected or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the defendant is a candidate."

Merchan said the court is a "fair, impartial and a political institution," adding that the decision "should dispel any suggestion that the court will have issued any decision or imposed sentence either to give an advantage to or to create disadvantage for any political party, and or any candidate for any office."

Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme involving his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The former president faces a maximum sentence of several years behind bars, but most legal experts expect he will get a fine.

Averting a potentially damaging sentence is a significant success for Trump as he seeks to return to the White House.

The delay means US voters will go to the polls in early November without knowing whether the already convicted Trump will go to prison.

In the event of Trump emerging victorious in the vote, his sentencing could be further delayed.

Trump's lawyers have also claimed immunity in the case based on the US Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year that presidents have presumed immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office.

Merchan set the decision for ruling on Trump's immunity on Nov. 12. Should he agree to the motion, which observers see as unlikely, the trial could be dismissed.