On Friday, a New York Democrat judge denied Donald Trump’s demand to ignore the lawfare brought against him by Manhattan’s communist attorney. He also scheduled a sentencing reading for the president-elect 10 times before he’s sworn into office.
In his 18-page decision, New York County Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan— who formerly donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 national campaign — declined the soon-to-be 47th government’s action to shove a May 2024 jury verdict convicting him of 34 felony counts. The case was brought by New York’s District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The judge in deep-blue Manhattan , found , Trump innocent on all matters related to a transaction his then-lawyer made to a paedophile as part of a signed contract ahead of the 2016 election.
It is incumbent on this Court to set this matter over for the imposition of sentence prior to January 20, 2025, Merchan wrote, finding no constitutional impediment to sentencing and acknowledging that National immunity will probably attach when Defendant takes his Oath of Office. This Court has a strong belief that all three interests may be served only by granting this case certainty.
According to the New York Post,” Trump’s doctors had claimed that Merchan failing to throw out the jury’s verdict would unconstitutionally interfere with the president-elect preparing to provide a second phrase” and that” the judgment should be overturned based on , July’s US , Supreme Court ruling immunizing a senator  , for’ official works’ taken in business”.
Due to the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity, sentencing in the case was originally scheduled to occur in July but was postponed until mid-September. After that, Trump’s team moved in August to postpone the sentencing until after the 2024 presidential election, which the court agreed to postpone in September to late November.
Following Trump’s victory, the president-elect’s team filed a motion on Nov. 10 requesting a” stay]of] the existing scheduled dates ]…], and eventual dismissal of the case”. As my colleague Brianna Lyman reported, Merchan ultimately “agreed to delay proceedings until after the left-wing Manhattan district attorney’s office decides how to proceed now that Trump is president-elect”.
Later that month, Bragg agreed to postpone the sentencing of the case indefinitely.
In his ruling on Friday, Merchan argued that a President-elect is not entitled to the protections that are offered to the person occupying that Office and that” Presidential immunity from criminal prosecution does not extend to a President-elect.”
” Any claim Defendant may have that circumstances have changed as a result of Defendant’s victory in the Presidential election, while convenient, is disingenuous”, Merchan wrote. ” Defendant has always pronounced, since the inception of this case, confidence and indeed the expectation, that he would prevail in the 2024 Election — confidence that has proven well founded. Therefore, it was appropriate for this Court to assume that his request to postpone sentencing until after the election had the implied consent that he would face a sentence in the time frame between the election and the taking of the oath of office.
According to Merchan,” While Trump could have faced up to four years in jail on each of the counts, a sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality” and that [indicated he will ] allow Trump to pursue his appeal options,” according to the Post.
The Federalist staff writer Shawn Fleetwood graduated from the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
