Donald Trump criticized Justice Juan Merchan for scheduling his sentencing in the Stormy Daniels hush money case just 10 days before his inauguration, citing various legal scholars to support his argument.
Merchan said the Republican president-elect may appear for sentencing in New York on January 10 either in person or virtually.
Although Justice Merchan indicated that he is unlikely to impose jail time on the 78-year-old Trump and may opt for an ‘unconditional discharge’ that would exempt him from fines and probation, Trump expressed strong disapproval in a series of posts on Truth Social on Friday night.
He named ten legal analysts who he said called the ‘Witch Hunt’ of a case ‘nonexistent’ and then called it ‘nothing but a Rigged Charade.’
Trump went on to label Justice Merchan as ‘Acting’ and accused him of being a ‘radical partisan,’ asserting that the sentencing decision was deliberately illegal and unconstitutional.
‘If allowed to stand, [it] would be the end of the Presidency as we know it,’ Trump added.
He says that ‘Merchan has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping in place an illegal gag order on me, your President and President Elect, just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts.’
Trump is furious about not being ‘allowed to defend myself,’ calling it a violation of his First Amendment rights.
Donald Trump cited numerous legal scholars in blasting Justice Juan Merchan for ruling he will be sentenced in the Stormy Daniels hush money case just 10 days before his inauguration
He then suggested the case should’ve disappeared, much as Special Counsel Jack Smith’s did.
‘While Deranged Jack Smith was “sent packing” back to The Hague, after losing all of his politically manufactured cases against me, Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than Smith in his fight for my hopeless Political Opponents, just cannot let go of this charade,’ he said.
Trump finished: ‘Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law? This has to stop! It is time to end the Lawfare once and for all, so we can come together as one Nation and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’
In a dramatic filing on Friday afternoon the judge denied Trump’s motion to dismiss the case and throw out the guilty verdict against him.
Merchan wrote that this was the ‘most viable solution to ensure finality’ while also allowing Trump to continue his appeal.
Trump had been potentially facing up to four years behind bars.
In May, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to a porn star – Stormy Daniels – to keep her quiet ahead of the 2016 presidential election about their alleged affair 18 years earlier.
In dramatic court testimony, Daniels went into salacious and lurid detail about the night she claimed to have spent with Trump during a charity golf tournament in Nevada. He has denied the encounter took place.
Merchan said the Republican president-elect may appear for sentencing in New York on January 10 either in person or virtually
Donald Trump must be sentenced in the criminal case in which he was convicted on criminal charges involving hush money paid to a porn star on Jan. 10
Lawyers for Trump argue the case should now be thrown out so it does not get in the way of his ability to govern once he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025.
They also claim the case should be thrown out due to the Supreme Court’s July ruling that the President of the United States has immunity from prosecution for official acts in office.
The case centered on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump for allegedly masterminding efforts to overthrow the 2020 election while in office, including on January 6 in the Capitol riot.
In Trump’s second motion to dismiss the case filed since his May conviction, his defense lawyers argued that having the case hang over him during his presidency would impede his ability to govern.
Trump’s first motion – which argued the case ran afoul of the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity – was unsuccessful.
Merchan determined last month that the evidence presented at the trial earlier this year was related ‘entirely to unofficial conduct’ and therefore did not amount to official actions as president.
‘This Court concludes that if error occurred regarding the introduction of the challenged evidence, such error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of guilt,’ Merchan wrote.
A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to pornstar Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet
Justice Juan Merchan denied the incoming president’s motion to dismiss the case and the guilty verdict due to his election victory in a dramatic filing on Friday afternoon
Daniels’ testimony in the trial last year went on for two days and included salacious details of her alleged affair with the president-elect
Lawyers for Trump argue the case involving porn star Stormy Daniels should now be thrown out
‘Even if this Court did find that the disputed evidence constitutes official acts under the auspices of the Trump decision, which it does not, Defendant’s motion is still denied as introduction of the disputed evidence constitutes harmless error and no mode of proceedings error has taken place.’
Trump lashed out in a post on Truth Social in December calling it a ‘completely illegal, psychotic order’ by the ‘corrupt and biased’ judge.
Prosecutors asked a New York judge last week to spare Trump prison time for his hush-money conviction in an effort to prevent the case from being thrown out altogether.
