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Lawyers and legal experts criticized the ruling by New York Judge Juan Merchan President-elect Donald Trump in the NY v. Trump case just days before his inauguration as president, saying the case will be remembered as “one of the worst” in history.
“I will tell you how it strikes me, when you look at cases throughout history, not just in the United States, but around the world, this will be remembered as one of the worst. It will be remembered as an absolute injustice from the beginning.” , Fox News host Mark Levin said after the ruling.
Merchan sentenced Trump on Friday morning to an unconditional discharge, meaning he does not face any punishment such as fines or jail time.
“This is the end of the politicization of the justice system,” said Fox News contributor Leo Terrell, a civil rights attorney whom Trump named this week as the deputy attorney general’s lead counsel for civil rights of Department of Justice in his next administration.
Trump was sentenced Friday morning.
“Trump’s election victory basically, in my opinion, neutralized this case. And the attempt to smear President Trump, to smear him with the scarlet criminal, it’s only a matter of time before it’s reversed. And I’m telling you this .With 35 years of experience, this case should never have gone to trial for one reason, to prevent President Trump from becoming the 47th president, I want to be very clear.
Terrell added in his comments to Fox Digital that he is “salivating to get to the Justice Department,” where he will be “very involved in the pursuit of justice” around the New York case and others brought against Trump.
“I’m going to be involved in stopping anti-Semitism and stop persecuting Catholic families, parents going to a school board meeting and the misuse, abuse of using the legal system for political gain. So I’m He will be involved in any investigation, and I expect him to be working 24/7 to uncover all this nonsense,” he said, noting that the documents and correspondence surrounding the cases of Trump will be “exposed”.
Merchan stressed Friday before the sentencing that the judicial system handled Trump’s case as it handles all other criminal cases.
“After careful analysis, this court has determined that the only statutory sentence permitting entry of the judgment of conviction is unconditional estoppel,” Merchan said Friday. “At this point, he imposes this sentence to cover all 34 charges.”
Merchan added: “Sir, I wish you the best of luck as you take on your second term.”
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Fox News contributor and attorney Trey Gowdy stressed Friday that if Trump’s case was handled the same as any other in New York, it shows “there’s a lot of bad judgment” in the state.
“The time of the courts is precious. It is a precious resource. To waste that time in a case, where even the prosecution agrees that it should not be spent a minute. So if Juan Merchan says that this case does not was treated differently, that just tells me there’s There’s a lot of bad evidence in New York,” Gowdy said.
Legal scholar and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley compared Merchan’s comment that Trump’s case was similar to any other in New York to Mary Shelley’s “Dr. Frankenstein.”
“Merchan appears to be making the case in his own defense and insisted that this case is no different from any other case in New York. This is a case that comes long after the jury has left the courtroom. This it’s like Dr. Frankenstein says. his creature that’s just like any other man Joining this case of a misdemeanor death and federal charges received is anything but normal,” Turley told X.
Trump addressed the court before condemning the case as a “huge embarrassment to the state of New York,” while noting that voters re-elected him “decisively” to the White House in November.
Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn added Friday that as she walked into the courtroom, she noticed widespread support for Trump in the streets.
“The only protesters, per se, that were here were Trump supporters. And even as I’m standing here right now, I’m looking at a square and I’m looking at people holding up Trump flags, I’m looking at a person holding a sign that says: “That’s enough.”
During Trump’s trial last spring, no cameras were allowed in the courtroom. For sentencing, however, Merchan agreed to allow the audio, which Urbahn found odd.
“It should be noted that during the trial there was no audio. There were no cameras, but for this particular sentencing, Judge Merchan agreed to have audio. I can’t help but wonder if it’s because he wants the world to hear his voice. condemn to Donald Trump because we couldn’t have that before,” he told Fox News.
Merchan set Trump’s sentencing for Jan. 10 earlier this month, and quickly ran into repeated attempts to delay and block the sentencing. Merchan said before the sentencing that he would likely not “impose any jail time” on Trump and instead give an “unconditional discharge.”
Trump’s legal team filed an appeal prevent the ruling from moving forward with the New York State Court of Appeals. However, the court rejected his request. Trump also filed an emergency motion with the United States Supreme Court, arguing that he “immediately requests a stay of the criminal proceedings pending in the Supreme Court of New York County, New York, pending the final disposition of the “President Trump’s interlocutory appeal raising issues of presidential immunity, including in this Court if necessary.”
Trump in court (Fox News)
“The Court should also enter, if necessary, a temporary administrative stay while it considers this request for a stay,” Trump asked.
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FILE – Judge Juan M. Merchan poses in his chambers in New York, March 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
The Supreme Court denied the petition. Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Samuel Alito, Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh indicated they would have granted Trump’s request to delay the ruling, while the order suggested Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji. Brown Jackson to deny Trump’s request.
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The US Supreme Court building in Washington, DC (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) (AP photo)
Trump has it promised to appeal the conviction, arguing that evidence in the case implicated his duties as president during his first term after the Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts in office, but not for unofficial acts .
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“I will appeal this case and I am confident that JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL. The pathetic and dying remnants of the witch hunt against me will not distract us as we come together and, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the Supreme Court order on Thursday.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump walks to speak to the press at the end of the day during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 7, 2024 in New York City .
“All the lawyers stated, unequivocally, that this is a case that should never have been brought. There was no case against me. In other words, I am innocent of all the fabricated and false charges of the judge. This does not It was more than Arming our justice system against a political opponent. It’s called Lawfare, and nothing like it has ever happened in America, and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen again. This highly political and corrupt judge has me placed a gag order, which takes away my First Amendment right to speak about very important aspects of the case,” his post added.
Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of forgery business records in the Manhattan case in May. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office worked to prove Trump falsified business records to hide a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to silence her claims about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006.
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Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and has repeatedly criticized it as an example of a law pushed by Democrats in an effort to hurt his election efforts before November.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and David Spunt contributed to this report.
