UPDATE (January 6, 2025, 9:48 a.m. ET): Shortly after this report was published, Donald Trump’s defense attorneys made public a new court filing, trying to delay sentencing in the president-elect’s hush money case.
During Donald Trump’s first presidential transition process, the Republican ran into an unfortunate legal mess: Just days after winning a first term, the then-president-elect faced a court date in a civil trail over his fraudulent Trump University scheme. He did, however, manage to avoid the embarrassment: After vowing to never settle the case out of court, Trump agreed to an out-of-court settlement in the fraud case.
During his second presidential transition process, he’s facing an even more serious legal matter.
It’s been roughly six months since a jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of the Republican’s hush money scandal. It was the first time in American history in which a former president was found to have committed multiple felonies.
Trump’s lawyers tried to overturn the verdict, pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court’s highly controversial immunity ruling. That didn’t work: Merchan concluded last month that the hush money payments that the president-elect made to Stormy Daniels had nothing to do with Trump’s “official acts” while in office.
There was only one key step remaining. As my MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin explained:
Judge Juan Merchan rejected a motion from Donald Trump to dismiss the New York hush money case and set the president-elect’s sentencing for Jan. 10. Merchan said Trump can appear virtually or in person for the sentencing and the judge said he is not inclined to sentence Trump to prison. The 34 counts of falsifying business records for which Trump was found guilty at trial do not mandate incarceration.
In theory, this appears to be an outcome the president-elect should like. Yes, he’ll be a convicted felon, but he doesn’t have to show up in court, and as a practical matter, he’ll hardly be punished at all. As Jordan’s piece added, “Merchan said a sentence of unconditional discharge ‘appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options.’ Under New York law, a sentence of unconditional discharge is one imposed without imprisonment, fine or probation.”
Still, sentencing will mean at least some accountability for the Republican — and he doesn’t appear to be taking this well.
On Friday, after Merchan advanced the process, Trump began publishing a series of online tantrums, the first of which condemned the matter as “a nonexistent case,” an “illegitimate political attack” and “a Rigged Charade.” While most criminal defendants at least pretend to show some contrition ahead of sentencing, Trump lashed out at Merchan as “a radical partisan,” who’s engaged in “unlawful” misconduct. This was soon followed by another item, also published to his social media platform, in which the president-elect described the judge as “corrupt.” A day later, the Republican again called Merchan “corrupt”; mischaracterized the court-imposed gag order; and called for the New York judge’s disbarment. But the more hysterical Trump became, the more he widened the rage aperture. The president-elect proceeded to lash out at news organizations, Judge Arthur Engoron (whom he also described as “corrupt”), the “court system,” E. Jean Carroll, special counsel Jack Smith, and the Justice Department. And then he kept going. The Republican also condemned “corrupt Democrat [sic] judges and prosecutors,” the “evil and sinister” special counsel, President Joe Biden, and the “CORRUPT DOJ and FBI,” culminating in yet another online missive in which Trump peddled odd conspiracy theories, called Merchan a “HACK,” condemned his trial as a “sham,” accused the judge in the case of having “fabricated the facts.” If Trump is hoping that Merchan will see all of this and throw out the jury’s verdict, I have some bad news for the president-elect.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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