Trump breaks silence after hush money case ruling slamming Democrats who ‘want to see if they can get a pound of flesh’
DONALD Trump has slammed the judge in the hush money case for denying his request to dismiss the charges.
The president-elect attacked Judge Juan Merchan saying that Democrats “just want to see if they can get a pound of flesh because every case has failed.”
Trump told Fox News legal experts thought there was “no case” and the proceedings were a “witch hunt”.
He said: “The judge is corrupt and I am still under a gag order, I am not allowed to speak about the thing he least wants me to talk about.
“I did absolutely nothing wrong,” Trump continued. “This is a political witch hunt by Biden and the DOJ.
“They want to see if they can get a pound of flesh because every case has failed including deranged Jack Smith’s, who is on his way back to the Hague after having lost every case.”
Merchan denied Trump’s request on Friday in a bombshell ruling and ordered Trump to appear in person or virtually for sentencing on January 10.
He is set to be sworn into the presidency just 10 days later on January 20.
Merchan has signalled that Trump won’t be sentenced to jail time and will instead receive a conditional discharge.
That means the case will be dismissed if Trump avoids being arrested again.
Trump was found guilty in May last year of 34 counts of falsifying business records, relating to an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
In his ruling, Merchan said he found no “legal impediment to sentencing” Trump.
Judge Merchan wrote that Trump’s motions arguing against sentencing are “unpersuasive as no compelling factor, consideration or circumstance submitted demonstrates that imposition of sentence would result in an injustice.”
“Only by bringing finality to this matter” will the interests of justice be served, he wrote.
In his decision, Merchan wrote that it “seemed proper” to inform Trump that he was “inclined not to impose” a prison sentence, acknowledging the court “no longer view as a practicable” option.
Merchan pushed back Trump’s original August 2024 sentencing after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are immune from prosecution for “some official acts” but no immunity for unofficial acts.
It comes after Special Counsel Jack Smith tossed two federal cases following Trump’s election win.
One of those cases related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another accusing him of storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House in 2021.
HUSH MONEY CONVICTION
A jury in Lower Manhattan convicted Trump on May 30, 2024, of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to hide hush money payments to pornstar Stormy Daniels.
During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Daniels, born Stephanie Clifford, was going to go public with allegations that she had an affair with then-presidential candidate Trump in 2006.
But, when Trump and his team caught a whiff of Daniels’ plans, the real estate tycoon allegedly ordered his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to pay the adult star $130,000 to suppress the story.
After his 2016 presidential election victory, Trump began paying back Cohen through monthly stipends, which he issued as legal services.
Trump has vehemently denied having an affair with Daniels.
Immediately after his conviction, Trump called the verdict a disgrace and labeled the trial rigged.
“This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. This was a rigged trial, a disgrace,” Trump fumed at reporters outside a Manhattan courtroom after the May 30, 2024, verdict.
The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial.
Can Trump pardon himself once president?
Neama Rahmani, President of West Coast Lawyers, tells The U.S. Sun about the arguments still available to Trump to stop him being sentenced in the hush money case and if he can pardon himself once president:
Trump can’t pardon himself because it’s a New York state case.
The President can only pardon for federal crimes. There isn’t much Trump can do to get revenge because the judge has broad immunity.
Trump will be sentenced in the New York hush money case on January 10.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Trump isn’t immune (presidential immunity), and it will not affect his ability to govern (separation of powers and Supremacy Clause).
Trump is expected to receive a conditional discharge, which means he won’t receive a substantive sentence.
Even though there is a theoretical possibility of imprisonment or probation, they are logistically impractical.
Trump will certainly appeal the conviction to the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, then the New York Court of Appeal, then the Supreme Court.
The real immediate question is whether the Appellate Division will step in to stop next week’s sentencing or if Trump will have to go through the normal appellate process, which will take months.
Trump had some success appealing in the New York civil fraud case, so this story is far from over.