Trump slams ‘corrupt’ judge after he is ordered to appear for sentencing in hush-money case: Live updates
Donald Trump has slammed Judge Juan Merchan on Truth Social after he required the president-elect to appear for sentencing in his hush-money case on January 10, just ten days before his inauguration.
“I never falsified business records,” Trump wrote on Saturday morning. “It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department, an attack on their political opponent, ME!”
A jury of 12 New Yorkers found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records after a six-week-long trial in May.
Merchan indicated Trump wouldn’t be jailed, but the extraordinary development puts the president-elect on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felonies.
Merchan said he would sentence the former and future president to what’s known as a conditional discharge, in which a case gets dismissed if a defendant avoids rearrest.
Following the order, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung issued a statement claiming that “the Constitution demands” that the case be “immediately dismissed.” He said the president-elect must be allowed to continue his presidential transition “unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the Witch Hunts.”
