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Where does Trump's verdict stand in New York after the massive election victory?

Where does Trump's verdict stand in New York after the massive election victory?

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After his overwhelming election victory, President-elect Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in his Manhattan criminal case later this month. Presiding Judge Juan Merchan will first decide whether to dismiss the charges entirely after the Supreme Court ruled on presidential immunity earlier this year.

Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records following his criminal trial in Manhattan in May. District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office worked to prove that Trump falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to further her claims of an alleged affair with Trump to silence the year 2006. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case.

The announcement of the verdict against Trump is scheduled for November 26th, which is already a four-month delay compared to the original date of July 11th.

Trump's lawyers had asked Merchan to overturn the former president's conviction in the New York v. Trump case after the Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents enjoy significant immunity from prosecution for official acts but not for unofficial acts. Merchan is expected to decide the status of the charges by November 12th.

“A normal judge would dismiss this case, and then the prosecutor would have to decide what, if anything, is left so we can consider retrying the case. But Judge Merchan has shown that he is nothing but an ordinary judge.” And the catch here is, if he were normal he would deny it, but because he is not normal he will probably deny it. But because it is an immunity claim, that gives the Trump defense team the right, the legal right, to immediately appeal his denial,” Cully Stimson, deputy director of the Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told Fox News Digital.

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Donald Trump points with US flags behind him

Former President Trump takes the stage to address his supporters at his rally at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Stimson said that even if Merchan rejects Trump's claim of immunity, the Trump team appeals the decision and an appeals court also rejects Trump's claim, the president-elect would not face imprisonment.

“For all intents and purposes, no matter what, if (Merchan) denies it and the appeals court … follows the judge, and then the judge gets to convict him. Even then, the Justice Department will come and say, 'Look, “Under the Supremacy Clause, you can't impose a criminal conviction, especially incarceration, on a sitting president.” And so this case will sit on hold until Trump leaves office . But for all practical purposes, this case and the Fanni Willis case are closed,” he said.

Judge Merchan poses for a photo

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a photo at his offices in New York on March 14. (AP Photos)

Trump pleaded not guilty in the case and denied any such affair with Daniels. The now president-elect had called the trial a “sham” and called Merchan “corrupt” and “conflicted,” apparently referring to the judge's family ties to the Democratic Party. Trump also called the case a “lawfare” being promoted by the Biden-Harris administration to harm his chances of winning the 2024 presidential election.

Trump cannot pardon himself at his inauguration because it was a state matter.

Donald Trump at the defense table in the trial

Former President Trump appears in court with members of his legal team on April 4, 2023, for an arraignment on charges arising from his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury in New York City. (Reuters/Andrew Kelly/Pool)

Stimson continued that given the Supreme Court's immunity decision, it would be impossible to take a scalpel into the case and examine the evidence related to Trump's first term in the White House and “official actions” in the position of the evidence related to his To remove lives before he was president.

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“(Merchan) is not your traditional judge, but he's not going to say there's no immunity for Trump because … the highest court in the land has said that presidents enjoy absolute immunity for their official acts, and so he's going to have to do that .” “Recognize that the question is whether he has the temperament and the judgment – which he has not demonstrated, at least so far – to apply this in a fair and impartial manner and dismiss the charges,” Stimson told Fox News Digital .

“By dismissing the charges, the ball is simply back in Alvin Bragg’s court. If Alvin Bragg wants to double down on stupidity, which he has done many times, he can (reopen the case). But he's not going to get anywhere with that,” because by then the president will have taken office and the Justice Department will be invoking the Supremacy Clause, which says you can't bring your case, your criminal case, against a sitting president, while he is president,” he continued.

JUDGE MERCHAN DELAYS TRUMP'S SENTENCE UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION

Close-up of prosecutor Alvin Bragg

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks to the media after a jury found former President Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records on May 30 in New York. (AP/Seth Wenig)

Andrew McCarthy, a Fox contributor and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, also wrote in an editorial for Fox Digital this week that Trump should not face prison time in this case.

“Understand, Trump will not go to prison even if Merchan imposes a sentence. Although the charges are felonies, they are not serious enough under New York law to warrant immediate incarceration; Trump will be released on bail pending an appeal,” he wrote.

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“Given that there is no way Trump will be sent to Rikers Island by a Manhattan judge, it would be prudent to delay the ruling and allow Trump to pursue his immunity challenge. This would avoid the impropriety of subduing the next president.” “The United States will be criminally convicted and sentenced before he takes office,” he continued.

“Lawfare has been terrible for the country. The resounding victory that Americans gave Trump should be his death knell,” McCarthy added later in his article.

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