President-elect Donald Trump is due to be sentenced today in his business records case, just 10 days before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has indicated that he won’t impose a term of incarceration. Instead, experts told The Epoch Times he will likely enter a judgment of conviction for the president-elect and offer some remarks on Trump’s conduct.
An order from Merchan on Jan. 3 said Trump could attend sentencing virtually.
This is the only one of Trump’s four recent criminal cases to reach sentencing. In May, a jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to alleged hush money paid to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford.
Trump has asked multiple state courts to postpone sentencing this week but was ultimately unsuccessful. As of the afternoon of Jan. 9, the U.S. Supreme Court had yet to issue a decision on Trump’s request for their intervention.
Trump told the U.S. Supreme Court that he was entitled to an automatic stay in proceedings due to the nature of his appeal on presidential immunity. He also argued that Merchan erroneously admitted evidence of Trump’s official acts and failed to recognize that Trump also received immunity from prosecution as president-elect.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg urged the court not to grant Trump’s request, arguing, among other things, that the justices lacked jurisdiction.
In December, Merchan rejected Trump’s various immunity-related objections to the evidence used during trial. He said that Trump waited too long or failed to preserve objections to evidence and that information related to both preserved and unpreserved arguments did not receive protection under the doctrine of presidential immunity.
Sentencing marks the end of a lengthy legal battle but Trump could still appeal after the hearing on Jan. 10.
Trump’s other remaining criminal case in Georgia is on shaky ground after an appeals court held that prosecutor Fani Willis should be disqualified. She’s appealing that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court.
—Sam Dorman
BOOKMARKS
U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves has blocked an expansion of Title IX protections implemented by President Joe Biden’s administration last year. The rule change would have expanded Title IX—which bars sex-based discrimination—to include discrimination based on gender identity and sexual preference.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has filed an appeal after being disqualified from her election interference case against President-elect Donald Trump. Willis was removed from the case after it was revealed that she had a romantic relationship with special counsel Nathan Wade.
The Department of Defense on Jan. 9 announced an additional $500 million in arms support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. Donald Trump has signalled that he will continue to support Ukraine, saying “I want to reach an agreement, and the only way you’re going to reach an agreement is not to abandon.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) says Donald Trump has prepared around 100 executive orders ready to sign when he takes office later this month. The President-elect had already stated while campaigning that on day one he would “end all Biden restrictions on energy production, terminate his insane electric vehicle mandate, [and] cancel his natural gas export ban.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland says the Department of Justice intends to release special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump, as soon as it gets permission. District Judge Aileen Cannon placed a gag order on the report on Jan. 7, in order not to influence the outcome of pending cases against Trump’s co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira.
—Stacy Robinson
