Trump will be sentenced in hush money case on January 10
Donald Trump will be sentenced in the New York hush money case just ten days before his inauguration.
In a dramatic filing Friday afternoon, Judge Juan Merchan denied the new president’s request to dismiss the case and toss out the guilty verdict because of his election victory.
The judge said the Republican president-elect may be sentenced in person or virtually.
Although the case was kept intact, the filing showed Merchan is unlikely to jail the 78-year-old and give him an unconditional discharge.
A jury found Trump guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying company records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 presidential election about their alleged affair 18 years earlier.
In dramatic court testimony, Daniels went into salacious and lurid details about the night she allegedly spent with Trump at a charity golf tournament in Nevada.
Donald Trump is to be sentenced in the criminal case in which he was convicted of criminal charges involving the payment of hush money to a porn star on January 10.
Lawyers for Trump argue that the case should be dismissed now so that it does not hinder his ability to govern once he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025.
They also argued that the case should be dismissed because of the Supreme Court’s ruling in July that the president of the United States has immunity from prosecution for acts of official office.
The case centered on special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump for allegedly masterminding efforts to overturn the 2020 election during his time in office, including on January 6 during the Capitol riot.
In Trump’s second motion to dismiss the case since his conviction in May, his lawyers argued that allowing the case to hang over him during his presidency would hamper his ability to govern.
Trump’s first motion — which argued that the case violated a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity — was unsuccessful.
Merchan noted last month that the The evidence presented in the case earlier this year was “entirely related to unofficial conduct” and therefore did not constitute official action as president.
“This Court concludes that if there was an error with respect to the introduction of the disputed evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,” Merchan wrote.
A jury found Trump guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying company records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet
In a dramatic filing Friday afternoon, Judge Juan Merchan denied the new president’s request to dismiss the case and guilty verdict because of his election victory.
Daniels’ testimony at last year’s trial lasted two days and included salacious details about her alleged affair with the newly elected president.
“Even if this Court has held that the challenged evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of Trump’s decision, which it does not, Defendant’s motion is still denied because the introduction of the challenged evidence constitutes harmless error and does not process error has occurred. .’
Trump lashed out in a post on Truth Social in December, calling it a “completely illegal, psychotic order” by the “corrupt and biased” judge.
Prosecutors last week asked a New York judge to spare Trump jail time over his hush-money conviction in their new filing. It is an attempt to prevent the case from being dismissed altogether.