OAN Staff James Meyers
3:28 PM – Friday, January 3, 2025
President-elect Donald Trump will reportedly be sentenced on January 10th in his so-called “hush money” case, a judge ruled on Friday. The judge also noted that he would not imprison him.
Advertisement
Judge Juan Merchan said that despite Trump winning the 2024 presidential election against Kamala Harris, he will not be dismissing the case. The sentencing will take place only 10 days before his inauguration.
Trump’s defense attorneys had contended that the matter would hinder his capacity to govern while he was president. However, according to Merchan, overturning the jury’s decision would “undermine the Rule of Law in immeasurable ways.”
Meanwhile, Trump supporters have praised the president-elect’s strength and perseverance in his ongoing “lawfare” (legal warfare) cases, arguing that the lawsuits have been initiated due to politics and Democrat efforts to stop him from becoming president.
Merchan rejected Trump’s push to dismiss the verdict and throw out the case on presidential immunity grounds, even though he is soon returning to the White House. Judge Merchan continued, claiming that he found “no legal impediment to sentencing” Trump and that it was “incumbent” on him to sentence Trump prior to his swearing in on January 20th.
“Only by bringing finality to this matter” will the interests of justice be served, Merchan wrote.
In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, which involved an alleged scheme to hide hush money payments to seasoned porn star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has denied the claims and has adamantly declared that her story is false.
After his November election victory, Merchan paused proceedings and indefinitely postponed sentencing in order for the defense and prosecution to discuss the future of the case.
Trump’s lawyers once more pleaded for Merchan to discard it. They claimed it posed unconstitutional “disruptions” to the incoming president’s ability to run the U.S.
Prosecutors acknowledged that there should be some sort of accommodation for his second presidential term, but they later insisted that the conviction should stand. Multiple options were suggested by prosecutors, such as halting the case during his tenure, guaranteeing no jail sentence.
Trump had been facing the possibility of punishments like a hefty fine, probation, or up to four years in prison.
The prosecution focused on allegations that Trump allegedly covered up a $130,000 payout from lawyer Michael Cohen to Daniels, which Cohen, who has already been imprisoned previously for his shady practices, allegedly attempted to silence her story about having sexual relations with Trump in 2006.
“Michael Cohen is a lawyer who, rather than setting an example of respect for the law, instead chose to break the law, repeatedly over many years and in a variety of ways. His day of reckoning serves as a reminder that we are a nation of laws, with one set of rules that applies equally to everyone,” stated previous U.S. Deputy Attorney Robert Khuzam
Attorney General Alvin Bragg utilized an “unusual and dense legal theory,” critics argue, which prompted Trump supporters to see the case as a selective, bias prosecution case against the president-elect. The theory of the case was that Trump’s crimes were “multi-layered.”
Bragg’s office claimed that the “catch and kill” payouts breached an obscure New York election law barring “conspiring to promote or prevent someone’s election through ‘unlawful means.’”
However, in the case, the court did not require jurors to select a specific unlawful means on the verdict sheet, which prompted critics to scratch their heads and fuel arguments that the jurors did not “unanimously” convict Trump.
Throughout the process, Trump repeatedly declared that the trial was a “witch hunt” organized by Democrats, and he also maintained that the trial was completely “rigged” against him.
Merchan donated $35 to Democrat caucuses in 2020, including $15 to President Joe Biden, records revealed. Additionally, Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren, is openly known to work for Democrat causes, campaigns, and politicians.
Yet, Merchan still claimed that politics had nothing to do with his rulings.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
Advertisements below