Judge sets Trump’s sentencing in hush money case for Jan. 10, but signals no jail time
A judge Friday set U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case for Jan. 10 — a little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but indicated he wouldn’t be jailed.
The development nevertheless leaves Trump on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felony.
Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial, signalled in a written decision that he’d sentence the former and future president to what’s known as a conditional discharge, in which a case gets dismissed if a defendant avoids rearrest.
Merchan rejected Trump’s push to dismiss the verdict and throw out the case on presidential immunity grounds and because of his impending return to the White House. The judge said he found “no legal impediment to sentencing” Trump and that it was “incumbent” on him to sentence Trump prior to his swearing in on Jan. 20.
“Only by bringing finality to this matter” will the interests of justice be served, Merchan wrote.
The development marks yet another twist in the singular case.
A jury convicted Trump in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 US hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The allegations involved a scheme to hide the payout to Daniels during the final days of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to keep her from publicizing her claim of a sexual encounter with the married then-businessman years earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them.
Judge had indefinitely postponed sentencing
After Trump’s Nov. 5 election, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the sentencing so the defence and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.
Trump’s lawyers urged Merchan to toss it. They said it would otherwise pose unconstitutional “disruptions” to the incoming president’s ability to run the country.
Prosecutors acknowledged there should be some accommodation for his upcoming presidency, but they insisted the conviction should stand.
They suggested various options, such as freezing the case during his term or guaranteeing him a no-jail sentence. They also proposed closing the case while formally noting both his conviction and his undecided appeal — an idea drawn from what some state courts do when criminal defendants die while appealing their cases.
Trump takes office Jan. 20 as the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal to be elected to the office.
His conviction left the 78-year-old facing the possibility of punishment ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.
Trump decried verdict as ‘rigged’
Trump, a Republican, has decried the verdict as the “rigged, disgraceful” result of a “witch hunt” pursued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
Before Trump’s November election, his lawyers sought to reverse his conviction for a different reason: a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution. That request was still pending when the election raised new issues.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump has been found guilty in his New York hush-money trial. CBC’s Anya Zoledziowski breaks down the key evidence and witnesses that led the jury to the historic conviction.
While urging Merchan to nix the conviction, Trump also sought to move the case to federal court, where he could also assert immunity. A federal judge repeatedly said no, but Trump appealed.
The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial.
Since the election, special counsel Jack Smith has ended his two federal cases. One pertained to Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss; the other alleged he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
A separate, state-level election interference case in Georgia is largely on hold.
Published at Fri, 03 Jan 2025 21:23:06 +0000
Republican Mike Johnson re-elected as U.S. House Speaker after dramatic vote
Republican Mike Johnson narrowly won re-election Friday to the U.S. House speakership on a first ballot, overcoming hard-right GOP holdouts after a tense standoff and buoyed by a nod of support from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
The uneasy scene brought an ominous start to the first day of the new Congress. A small collection of hardline Republicans convened in the back of the House chamber, one by one declining to vote or choosing another lawmaker for the position.
Johnson’s face turned grim, acknowledging the fresh turmoil and signalling trouble ahead under unified GOP control of Washington.
In the end, however, Johnson was able to flip two remaining holdouts who switched to support him, drawing applause from Republicans. The tally was 218-215.
In his first speech, Johnson vowed to “reject business as usual” as Republicans take charge.
“We’re going to drastically cut back the size and scope of government,” he promised.
Tense scene during usually ceremonial day
Johnson’s weak grip on the gavel has threatened not only his own survival, but also Trump’s ambitious agenda of tax cuts and mass deportations as Republicans sweep to power. Even his close alliance and backing from Trump himself, usually a sure bet for Republicans, was no guarantee Johnson could regain his Speaker role.
The House Democratic leader Hakeem Jefferies attempted to push past the Republican tumult of the past two years, saying it was time to come together and put party politics aside “to get things done” for Americans.
What was once a ceremonial day with newly elected lawmakers arriving to be sworn into office, often with family, friends and children in tow, evolved into a high-stakes vote for the office of House Speaker, among the most powerful elected positions in Washington. Vice-President Kamala Harris was swearing in the senators.
While the Senate is able to convene on its own and has already elected party leaders — Sen. John Thune as the Republican majority leader and Sen. Chuck Schumer for the Democratic minority — the House must first elect its Speaker, a role required by the U.S. Constitution, second in the line of succession to the president.
With opposition from his own GOP colleagues, Johnson arrived at the Capitol with outward confidence after working into the night to sway hardline holdouts. A flop by Johnson could have throw Monday’s congressional certification of Trump’s 2024 election victory into turmoil without a House Speaker.
Republican Mike Johnson was narrowly re-elected as U.S. House Speaker on Friday after he was able to convince two holdouts to flip and support him. Mica Soellner, a congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, said it was thanks to president-elect Donald Trump’s intervention and she believes it’s ‘probably the start of a very long four years where Trump will play a heavy hand’ in Congress.
Published at Fri, 03 Jan 2025 22:07:06 +0000
