Trump asks Supreme Court to block his criminal sentencing

NEW YORK: US President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to block his sentencing this week for covering up hush money payments to a porn star while he appeals his conviction.

Trump made the eleventh-hour plea for a suspension of the criminal proceedings to the nation´s highest court after a New York State appeals court dismissed his effort to have the hearing delayed.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday.

Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to cover up a payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Trump is frantically seeking to avoid facing punishment before he is sworn in on January 20 for a second term as president.

His lawyers have brought several legal maneuvers in an effort to fend off the sentencing, which the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, has already indicated in a filing will not result in jail time.

“This Court should enter an immediate stay of further proceedings in the New York trial court to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,” Trump´s lawyers wrote in their application to the Supreme Court.

“The commencement of President Trump´s interlocutory appeal raising claims of Presidential immunity causes an automatic stay of proceedings in the trial court.”

In their previous filing to the New York court, Trump´s counsel had argued that sentencing should be postponed while the Republican appeals his conviction, but associate justice Ellen Gesmer rejected that on Tuesday.