The Attorney General of the U.S. House of Representatives. Donald Trump, J.P. Merchan, and the New York hush-money case
Donald Trump was denied his request to delay his sentencing in the New York hush-money case.
Seven months after Trump was convicted of business fraud, this reunion was not very interesting. The justice tipped his hand when he stated that the sentence would be meaningless and that it would be a free man.
This was the only one of Trump’s criminal charges to go to trial, making him the first former or future U.S. president to be convicted of criminal charges.
After the Supreme Court ruled last summer that presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution, Trump has argued that he is free from prosecution and sentencing.
The Manhattan District Attorney said that a sentencing before the inauguration would preserve the jury’s verdict and the law.
If there is a delay, it will be unfair since Trump wants multiple delays in sentencing, even though he only wants two more years in office.
The sentencing has been delayed several times to avoid any perception of political bias prior to the election, and then to allow Trump to argue that he had immunity because of a Supreme Court ruling.
The president’s lawyers still accused the prosecutor of having a political agenda, but they said it was up to the courts to rule on the presidential immunity claims.
A day after Jimmy Carter’s funeral, where Donald Trump had to hear about all the character traits he lacks, he wasn’t in the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse Friday morning to hear his felony sentence pronounced. He was from Mar-a-Lago and with his attorney and nominee for deputy attorney general, there was a lot to see.
This sounds like no punishment at all but was in fact a “masterstroke,” retired New York Judge George Grasso told me as we walked out of the courtroom.
Merchan decided this was unreasonable under the supremacy clause of the Constitution, which gives federal law primacy over state law. He thought the only way to avoidencroaching on the highest office of the land was to have unconditional discharge.
One of the prosecutors, Josh Steinglass, told the judge that he favored the sentence because it will “cement the defendant’s status as a convicted felon.”
Donald Trump isn’t a felon, but he could be convicted for a felony scheme to fudge business records to avoid an adult film star
The best chance Trump has to expunge this stain on his reputation is to argue that some of the testimony referring to White House conversations fell under his “official duties.” In the immunity case, it was possible that Chief Justice John Roberts may include this under his definition of presumptive immunity and clear Trump.
But he (or Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the other swing vote in Thursday’s ruling) would have to ignore the 22 witnesses and 500 exhibits that provided a mountain of other evidence used by the jury to convict.
Four knee-bending justices (including one, Samuel Alito, whose recent conversation with Trump further tarnished the court) are apparently happy to protect Trump from any legal accountability at all, even for acts that brought conviction while he was out of office.
It is likely that the sentence of Merchan will be spared a close shave. But it’s now a good bet that the first paragraph of Donald Trump’s obituary will include the stunning fact that this two-term American president was also a felon.
The former president is set to appear in a New York court on Friday to be sentenced on 34 felony counts stemming from a scheme to fudge business records to avoid paying an adult film star.
“There’s nothing else that the defendant has to do, and therefore it’s the least restrictive in terms of how it could impede in any way on the president-elect as he takes office,” Anna Cominsky, director of the criminal defense clinic at New York Law School, said about the expected sentence of an unconditional discharge.
“It certainly makes sense that there be some finality to this case because as a nation, we should want to move on, in particular as he assumes the role of president, and be able to look forward to the next four years without this sentence pending,” Cominsky said. “There has to be an end.”
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The jury in Manhattan state court heard from 22 witnesses during about a month of testimony in Manhattan’s criminal court. Other evidence included phone records, invoices and checks to Michael Cohen, Trump’s once loyal “fixer” who paid Stormy Daniels to keep her story of an alleged affair from becoming public.
It appeared that the conviction had little impact on Trump’s popularity or electoral victory. He has used the legal drama to mobilize donations for his campaign and mounting legal fees.