CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to cancel his upcoming sentencing in relation to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against him will lead to a legal back-and-forth between the prosecution and defense.
Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the criminal case, ruled Friday that Trump must appear for his sentencing either in-person or virtually on Jan. 10, ten days before his inauguration. The judge has indicated that the president-elect is highly likely to receive an unconditional discharge which will lead to no jail or probation time, Honig said.
“The judge has made as clear as possible in the ruling that he made Friday night that he intends to sentence Donald Trump to what we call an unconditional discharge, meaning no prison time, no probation, no fine, no community service, no nothing. And b), that in order to accommodate President Trump’s status as president-elect, he’s willing to hold the proceeding by Zoom, which is very unusual,” Honig said. “So that’s all that’s at stake with this sentencing coming up on Friday, but as you know, that would make this conviction formal. A document, a piece of paper called a Judgement of Conviction, would issue upon sentencing, so that would formalize Donald Trump’s status as a convicted felon.”
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Trump notified the court Monday that he intends to cancel the upcoming sentencing and appeal Merchan’s rejection to dismiss the case over presidential immunity and his victory in the 2024 election. His legal team argues that the judge should delay all sentencing hearings and all deadlines relating to the case until the president-elect’s immunity appeals are “fully and finally resolved.”
“If Judge Merchan says to Donald Trump’s new request today, ‘sorry, denied, we are moving forward with this sentencing on Friday,’ then look for Donald Trump’s team to take it to the next level,” Honig continued. “I think they’re going to go to the appeals court and say: ‘alright appeals court, you have to now put on pause everything happening with Judge Merchan, because again, I’m entitled to have everything stayed, everything put on hold while I appeal the immunity decision.’ So, we’re gonna see a back-and-forth happening between Donald Trump and [Bragg] and Judge Merchan and maybe the New York appeals courts starting hours from now and I think continuing right up to the sentencing on Friday.”
Merchan indicated that an unconditional discharge would be the most suitable sentence given that Trump is set to take office in the coming two weeks. He ruled in December that the case would not be dismissed on the basis of presidential immunity, which the Supreme Court stated in July that a president is entitled to such immunity for official acts taken during their time in office.
A Manhattan jury convicted Trump on 34 counts in May for falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels in response to her allegations that the two had an affair in 2006. Trump has repeatedly denied the affair allegations.
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