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Donald Trump has been ordered to appear for sentencing on January 10 in the New York “hush money” criminal case, just days before he is inaugurated for his second term in the White House.
Justice Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s argument that the criminal case should be set aside following the US Supreme Court’s ruling that recognised presidents’ broad immunity for their official acts.
Merchan on Friday wrote that sentencing should take place before Trump is inaugurated on January 20.
However, he said he was not inclined to imprison the president-elect, who was convicted last year in New York state court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors alleged was a scheme to buy the silence of a porn actor with whom he had an affair.
“While this Court as a matter of law must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and defendant an opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation,” Merchan wrote.
This is a developing story
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