Judge in Trump 'hush money' case delays ruling on presidential immunity

The judge presiding over former President Donald Trump's 'hush money' case has delayed the date when he will rule on the whether Trump has presidential immunity. 

Judge Juan Merchan was set to make the immunity decision on Sept. 6 with the sentencing date set for Sept. 18, which would be just days before the Nov. 2 presidential election, in which Trump is now the GOP presidential nominee. 

In a letter Tuesday, Merchan rescheduled the immunity hearing to just two days before the sentencing. This decision came in the wake of the Trump legal team's request for him to rule on their motion to have the judge recuse himself from the case over alleged conflicts of interest, Associated Press according to the Associated Press. 

Trump's legal team moved in July for the judge to dismiss the guilty verdict against him in the so-called hush money case after the Supreme Court ruled the president has immunity for official acts. Trump's lawyers argue that the trial was tainted by evidence and testimony that is protected under presidential immunity. 

Trump was convicted in May by a Manhattan jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to paying porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential counter, not to disclose an alleged sexual encounter years earlier. 

Trump was originally set to be sentenced in July. That timeline was delayed by the Supreme Court's ruling and the new motions in the case.