The case for a Trump-Mechan-Born-Infeld conviction is resolved in a New York court without an unconditional discharge
The Supreme Court should stay proceedings in the New York trial court to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency, according to Trump’s lawyers.
Of course, Trump’s legal team is likely to appeal the conviction and sentence again — as they have done throughout the legal proceeding. Appeals could stretch on for years.
This was the only one of Trump’s criminal charges to go to trial, making him the first former or future U.S. president to be convicted of criminal charges.
Trump has argued that as president-elect he is immune from all prosecution and sentencing, after the Supreme Court last summer ruled that presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution.
The Manhattan District Attorney argued that a sentencing before the inauguration would preserve the jury’s verdict and the law.
Bragg also warned that any delay would risk punting proceedings for years, until Trump finishes his second presidential term — which would be unfair since Trump himself asked for multiple delays in sentencing.
In order to avoid any perception of political bias before the election, Merchan has delayed Trump’s sentencing several times,including to allow him to argue that he had immunity in the case based on the Supreme Court ruling.
Trump’s lawyers made it clear that the Supreme Court might have some say in whether the president’s immunity claims are decided by appellate courts.
The former president is scheduled to appear in a New York court on Friday to be sentenced on 34 felony counts of faking business records to hide a payment.
“There’s nothing else that the defendant has to do, and therefore it’s the least restrictive in terms of how it could impede in any way on the president-elect as he takes office,” Anna Cominsky, director of the criminal defense clinic at New York Law School, said about the expected sentence of an unconditional discharge.
“It makes sense that this case is over so we can move on and look forward to the next four years, without this sentence hanging over us,” Cominsky said. “There has to be an end.”
After a long day of deliberations, the jurors unanimously agreed that Trump faked business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn actress Daniels in order to influence the election.
But the conviction appeared to have little impact on Trump’s popularity — and ultimate electoral victory during the 2024 presidential election. The legal drama has been used to raise money for his campaign.