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Donald Trump has been ordered to appear by sentence on January 10 in the New York criminal case of “hush money”, just a few days before he is set for his second term in the White House.
Justice Juan Merchan rejected Trump's argument that the criminal case should be set aside following a US Supreme Court ruling that accepted broad immunity for presidents for their official actions.
Merchan on Friday wrote that the ruling must be made before Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
However, he said he was not interested in imprisoning the president-elect, who was he was sentenced last year in New York state court on 34 counts of falsifying business records in what the defendants alleged was a ploy to buy the silence of a former porn star.
“Although this Court as a matter of law should not make any decision on the sentence before giving the parties and the accused an opportunity to be discussed, it seems appropriate at this time to know how the court is inclined not to pass any sentence of imprisonment. The mandated sentence is conviction but people agree that they no longer see it as a possible recommendation,” Merchan wrote.
This is a growing story