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Donald Trump has been ordered to appear for sentencing on January 10 in the New York “hush money” criminal case, just days before he is inaugurated for his second term in the White House.
Judge Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s argument that the criminal case should be thrown out following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that recognized presidents’ broad immunity for their official acts.
Merchan wrote Friday that the sentencing should take place before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
However, he said he was not inclined to jail the president-elect, who was convicted last year in New York state court of 34 counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors alleged was a scheme to bought the silence of a porn actor with whom he had an affair.
“While this Court as a matter of law should make no sentencing decision before giving the parties and the defendant an opportunity to be heard, it seems appropriate at this time to make known the court’s disposition not to impose any prison sentence, the sentence authorized by the sentence, but a sentence that people admit they no longer see as a workable recommendation,” Merchan wrote.
This is a developing story
