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'The Next President of the United States Is a Felon': Trump Sentenced
"Donald Trump will have no penalty for criminal wrongdoing, which is an affront to accountability and to a system where no one is above the law, though the judge had little alternative," said one ethics expert.
Jan 10, 2025
After being convicted of 34 felonies in New York last year, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Friday received an unconditional discharge during a sentencing hearing that came just over a week before the Republican's second inauguration.
Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court—which includes three Trump appointees—allowed the hearing to proceed, New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan declined to impose fines or sentence Trump to prison for his crimes, which related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
"Donald Trump will have no penalty for criminal wrongdoing, which is an affront to accountability and to a system where no one is above the law, though the judge had little alternative," said Noah Bookbinder, president and CEO of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "But now, formally, the next president of the United States is a felon."
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NY State Appeals Court Denies 'Ridiculous' Effort to Halt Trump Sentencing
"Immunity doesn't apply to the unofficial conduct for which he was convicted in NY," wrote one legal expert.
Jan 07, 2025
On Tuesday, an appeals court in New York denied President-elect Donald Trump's bid to delay his January 10 sentencing in his criminal "hush money" case.
Appearing before Judge Ellen Gesmer, Trump's legal team argued that a sitting president's immunity from prosecution extends to a president-elect.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have immunity—in some cases "presumptive" and in others "absolute"—for their "officials acts" taken while in office.
Gesmer allowed sentencing to proceed after a brief hearing during which she appeared skeptical of the argument presented by Trump's lawyer, according to The New York Times. The outlet wrote that the ruling is "a significant setback to Trump's hopes of shutting down the case before returning to the White House."
"Trump will run through the appeals courts looking for one willing to pause his impending sentencing. But his argument is just ridiculous—immunity doesn't apply to the unofficial conduct for which he was convicted in NY," wrote Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, on X Tuesday.
Last week, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upheld the president-elect's criminal conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business documents. The case pertains to a $130,000 hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before Trump's 2016 electoral victory.
Trump's lawyers then filed a request to delay the sentencing with Merchan, which he rejected Monday.
When it comes to sentencing, Merchan has signaled he may issue an unconditional discharge, meaning Trump would not serve jail time, but it would cement his status as the first U.S. president convicted of a felony.
Trump has other legal avenues to try to delay the sentencing scheduled for Friday, according to the Times.
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Legal Expert Explains Why Trump Effort to Squash Sentencing Is BS
"Hasn't Trump delayed accountability long enough?" asked Norm Eisen of the Brookings Institution.
Jan 06, 2025
Arguments from lawyers for President-elect Donald Trump in a legal filing made public Monday amounted to "nonsense," said longtime legal analyst Norm Eisen, as the Republican leader attempts to avoid a sentencing that would cement his status later this month as the first convicted felon to serve as president of the United States.
Trump's attorneys filed a "notice of automatic stay" three days after New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan upheld the president-elect's criminal conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business documents. The case—one of four pending criminal cases against Trump while he ran for president last year—pertains to a $130,000 hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just before Trump's 2016 electoral victory.
In upholding the conviction, Merchan rejected Trump's motion to vacate a New York jury's guilty verdict last May and scheduled his sentencing for January 10.
On Monday, lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove—who are also Trump's nominees for deputy attorney general and assistant to the deputy attorney general—claimed the case should be paused because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer which gave presidents broad immunity for "official acts" they take.
"I call BS," said Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, explaining on the social media platform X that presidential immunity "does not apply here" because the case pertains to events that took place before Trump was first elected president.
Trump's claim that he should enjoy "sitting-president immunity" is also "nonsense," said Eisen, as he has not been the sitting president since January 2021 and won't be again until January 20, 10 days after the scheduled sentencing.
"His claim that sitting-president immunity extends into the transitional period while he is 'president-elect' is nonsense," said Eisen. "There's no such doctrine in American law. He's making this up."
Blanche and Bove demanded that Merchan indicate by 2:00 pm on Monday whether he would block the sentencing.
"Lawyers don't impose deadlines on judges; it's the other way around," said MSNBC legal analyst Kristy Greenberg. "But that didn't stop Trump's lawyers from giving Judge Merchan a deadline of TODAY at 2:00 pm to say whether he'll proceed with 1/10 sentencing, or else they will file an emergency appeal."
A spokesperson for the district attorney's office told The Washington Post that the judge was expected to file a response Monday.
In the filing, Eisen said, "Trump argues that 'further criminal proceedings are automatically stayed by operation of federal constitutional law.'"
"Wrong again!" he wrote. "There is no automatic stay. He's making this shit up as he goes along."
"Hasn't Trump delayed accountability long enough?" said Eisen. "You know if he gets this stay, his sentencing will never occur. I strongly oppose a stay—and so does the interest of justice."
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