Supreme Court rejects Trump’s request!
Washington/New York, Jan 9 (EFE).-
The United States Supreme Court narrowly rejected Thursday the request of President-elect Donald Trump to block the reading of his sentence in the New York criminal case for irregular payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
The Republican’s lawyers had submitted an emergency request Wednesday to the highest US court to suspend his judicial procedure, arguing, as on other occasions, that their client enjoys presidential immunity.
With this decision, the Supreme Court judges (five votes in favor and four against) agreed with the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in that state, which also rejected a request Thursday by the president-elect to block the sentence.
The Supreme Court said Trump can present his arguments in an appeal process and that the “burden” he places on appearing at the hearing is “relatively insubstantial” after Judge Juan Merchan, who ruled out a prison sentence, will also allow him to appear virtually.
The high court’s refusal completely exhausts the possibilities of Trump’s defense to stop the sentence, which is scheduled for at 9:30am local time on Friday, and for which the politician will appear virtually, according to documents presented by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the prosecution in the case, sent a document Thursday to express its opposition to the suspension of the process, alluding to the reasons the Supreme Court argued.
In May 2024, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to buy Stormy Daniels’ silence before the November 2016 election, which he won, and to prevent an alleged extramarital affair from coming to light during the campaign.
Trump’s lawyers have tried by all means to have the case dismissed, which Trump has referred to as a “witch hunt” and in which he has accused the judge and the prosecution of political persecution against him and even electoral interference.
Although Judge Merchan said he would not hand down a prison sentence, the sentence will still make history, as it will be the first time a president convicted of a serious crime assumes the highest office in the nation. EFE
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