Justice Juan Merchan ruled that President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on January 10 regarding his business records trial.
In a court order on Friday, Merchan wrote that the Court had found “no legal impediment to sentencing” and added that the Court recognized “that Presidential immunity will likely attach” once Trump is sworn into office. Merchan added that it was “incumbent upon” the Court “to set this matter down for the imposition of sentence” prior to Trump’s inauguration.
“Finding no legal impediment to sentencing and recognizing that Presidential immunity will likely attach once Defendant takes his Oath of Office, it is incumbent upon this Court to set this matter down for the imposition of sentence prior to January 20, 2025,” Merchan wrote in a court order. “It is this Court’s firm belief that only by bringing finality to this matter will all three interests be served.”
Merchan’s ruling comes months after a New York jury found Trump guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first-degree concerning payments made to adult porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.
In December, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg issued a legal filing suggesting that Merchan not toss out issuing a ruling in Trump’s business records trial.
Bragg’s suggestion came after Merchan granted a request in November — brought forward by Trump’s attorneys – for “permission to file a motion to dismiss.”
“Alvin Bragg’s lawfare prosecution of President Trump is a grossly unjust travesty that should have been dismissed,” said Breitbart News senior legal contributor Ken Klukowski. “Even the Biden-Garland Justice Department took the official position that the Constitution required the federal lawfare prosecutions against the president to be dismissed, and the reasons for doing so — coupled with Supreme Court precedent — make clear that Bragg’s state-court prosecution likewise needed to be thrown out.”
“Even though it appears the judge has taken prison off the table, whether through a state court appeal or federal court action before January 10’s sentencing, President Trump’s constitutional rights should be vindicated and his name should be cleared by having these convictions overturned outright,” he said.
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