The Manhattan judge who oversaw Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial will now consider whether to toss the president-elect’s historic felony conviction before he re-returns to the White House.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had already delayed sentencing by more than four months to come after the election — and has given himself until Tuesday to decide if the conviction should still stand, CNN said.
Donald Trump sits at the defendant’s table inside the Manhattan Criminal Court during jury deliberations on May 29, 2024. Getty Images
He will face intense pressure from the president-elect’s legal team who now want “to make sure that sentencing never happens,” CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid said late Wednesday.
“Here, they’re going to argue to the judge that the sentencing should never happen because now that Trump is president-elect,” Reid noted.
Judge Juan Merchan is considering tossing out Donald Trump’s felony convictions following Tuesday’s election results. AP
“They will say that he is entitled to the same constitutional protections as a sitting president and should be protected from state actors, and in this case, state prosecutors.”
Trump, 78, faces up to four years in prison after being convicted of 34 counts of felony falsifying business records to cover up payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
President-elect Donald Trump speaks to supporters alongside his wife Melania at the Palm Beach County Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024. AP
Legal experts have already predicted Trump won’t face hard time.
“Merchan doesn’t have the stomach to imprison a former president or president-elect,” former prosecutor Neama Rahmani said.
“Now that Trump has won, his criminal problems go away.”
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