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at six on cnn. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> good morning. you are live in the cnn newsroom. i'm jim acosta in washington. we are following multiple breaking stories at this hour. the sun is rising on the west coast, revealing another day of horror and heartbreak in los angeles. five wildfires are still ravaging l.a. county. entire neighborhoods are scorched. the death toll now at ten and expected to rise. more than 10,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed, and high winds returning today, putting a strain on firefighters. plus, right now, president-elect donald trump is being sentenced for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the new york hush money case. and in just moments after that, the supreme court will hear arguments on whether the federal government can ban tiktok. but we begin this hour in southern california, where

several major wildfires are raging through the los angeles area, devouring entire neighborhoods and killing at least ten people. that death toll almost certain to rise. more than 10,000 buildings have burned homes, businesses, livelihoods and lifetimes of memories. and more gusty winds are expected to fan the flames later on today. take a look at these new exclusive images just in to cnn satellite images from airbus show one pacific palisades neighborhood before the fire. and the charred look at that. smoking remains after the wall of fire swept through the area in just a few days, the overwhelming majority of homes and businesses and pacific palisades are destroyed. the county's infrastructure is also severely damaged. the power grid transportation system, even the ability to use toilets all compromised in this huge area. here's a quick look at the five active fires in and around l.a. county. the palisades fire is the most destructive in

l.a. history. curfew blankets the county, and the national guard has been brought in to help protect against looting, which has been happening from place to place. this is new video you're looking at right now of the kenneth fire, which erupted just yesterday afternoon. overnight, we learned that a man has been arrested on suspicion of arson. the lapd is not confirming whether the suspect had any connection to this fire, but cnn is covering all angles of this rapidly unfolding disaster. our stephanie elam is northeast of l.a. and altadena and cnn's julia vargas jones is west of the city in pacific palisades. we will get to them and have much more on all of the fires in just a moment. but first, as we were just saying, breaking news out of a new york city courtroom right now, president elect donald trump is being sentenced in his hush money conviction just ten days before he is set to return to the white house. the unprecedented ruling follows a 5 to 4 decision by the supreme court to deny trump's last minute appeal. last night, cnn's laura coates is outside the new york court.

laura, walk us through where things stand right now. a lot of things happening at this very moment. >> well, we may not have been here, but for the supreme court last night, deciding in a 5 to 4 decision a very tight ruling where chief justice john roberts and justice amy coney barrett joined with the so-called liberal justices to say that this could go forward. we knew from the judge it was unlikely that this is going to be a jail imposition or a probation period or a fine. the judge has now had an opportunity to review a probation report, written in connection with interviews from the president elect and the probation officer, who said during the report that it seemed that trump believed he was, quote, above the law. meanwhile, donald trump, the president elect soon to be president in just ten days, is arguing that the indictment itself should never have been brought. the manhattan da, alvin bragg, was wrong to bring this and that. in fact, the american people, according to todd blanche, who will be number two at the doj following his inauguration, has believed that this the american people did not want a case like this

to be brought under a category of lawfare. the judge, judge merchan has said, which is the understatement of a lifetime. this has been a truly extraordinary case. indeed it has been. we have never seen a time when an american president, former, of course, or president elect, has been convicted of felony counts. this to the tune of 34. now it is a class e felony in the state of new york, which normally does not necessarily bring a jail time. it's not universally accepted as that, but it doesn't always have jail time. but the idea of no probation, no fine is directly connected from the decision of the judge, it seemed. and we're waiting to hear that final point. this is a president elect who has argued that he would be unable to fully govern if he were to have certain contingencies or conditions above him. he does note, the judge said, it is the office of the presidency that is extraordinary, not the occupant of the office. but again, he is a president elect. trump wanted this to be delayed until after

he became the president. again, the judge thought it was incumbent on the decision to honor the jury's verdict. and of course, the rule of law to allow this particular defendant and all defendants to have the finality of a sentence. jim, although we are using the phrase convicted felon, there is a slight nuance to this. it is not a done deal until after the sentence. and then that's the catalyst to be able to have your full appellate rights and go after all the different legal issues here. mershon says that once the courtroom door is closed, the trial was no different from any other in the courthouse. i was in that courthouse. i got to tell you what was so extraordinary, aside from the fact that it was the former president of the united states, there is that he was being treated and in a courtroom unlike any other, not like any other defendant. when the rule of law and the criminal prosecution and the weight of your name after a jurisdiction versus is in front

of you. >> yeah. and, laura, i guess when this is all said and done and you were just saying and we've all been saying we expect there not to be a, a sentence of jail time or anything like that for the president elect. but take us through the next steps. he'll be able to appeal the conviction. that process continues on even while he's president. >> oh, yes, he wants it to continue on. he does not want this title of convicted felon. he does not believe that this case should have been resurrected. according to the laws and the on the books. but remember, ever since this case even started, he said he was convicted and a verdict entered back in may of last year. the supreme court has issued this interim opinion about immunity that not only can you not prosecute a sitting president for president for official acts, but you can't use official acts to then form the basis of evidence in criminal matters. trump believes that his statements and statements that were made to people who were a part of the administration and beyond,

whether it be hope hicks or others, should not have been allowed to be entered into evidence and therefore could have unduly tainted the the jury's view of the case. mershon is saying, however, the considerable, indeed extraordinary legal protections afforded the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all else in his sentencing. but remember, he's a president elect, so a lot of that is not applied to him yet. and the judge wanted this done beforehand. this will be quite a slap on the wrist. i'm curious if the judge will in fact address the contempt or even the statements trump has made about the judge and his family as well. >> all right, laura coates, thank you very much. with me now, cnn anchor and chief white house correspondent kaitlan collins and cnn senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor elie honig. elie, let me go to you first. what's your reaction to what we've been hearing so far? >> well, it's pretty orderly, all things said, donald trump seems to have gone on a little bit of a tirade, but nothing unpredictable. nothing different from what he said before. one thing that i think is interesting is there's been no talk whatsoever, except from donald trump, about the actual

conduct that donald trump was tried and found guilty for. for a while, the d.a. was trying to say this, this conduct of hiding the hush money payments. is that okay? there we go. so that's the official moment of the sentence. donald trump has now been sentenced to an unconditional discharge. >> what does that mean? >> that means that it is now official that donald trump has been convicted of a felony. there's two parts of that equation the conviction. and now we have part two, the sentence. so that is a moment we now have donald trump. i guess you can technically, if you would like to call him a convicted felon. that is a label that now technically applies. but of course he does have his appeal rights. but again, the focus has been okay, lawyers are packing up. >> so yeah, judge merchan is off the bench. yeah, it happened that quickly in a lot of ways. >> not that different from any other sentencing. it took 38 minutes. that's about average for a sentencing in state court. but the focus has largely been on trump's out of court conduct. >> caitlin, what do you think you've been watching all this? >> well, the most interesting statement from judge merchan just a few moments ago, before he left the bench, was acknowledging trump's election win. he was saying, you know, ordinary citizens don't get these kind of legal protections. it's the office of

the presidency that is bestowing these to the office holder. and he said it is the citizenry, citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections, essentially acknowledging that, yes, because donald trump is going to be inaugurated in a few days. that is changing the sentencing here. i mean, if this had happened in july before he had actually won, you could see, you know, that was way before he was afforded those protections and how different that was. >> and, caitlin, you were reporting that donald trump did not have to appear in court this morning. he did this over video. yeah. >> i think one thing that i noticed from attending this trial when it was going on, is that the way that the trump team has framed justice merchan and how he acts here is so different than

>> you see the two of them appearing side-by-side. he was not there actually in the courtroom, which is ellie would note i would assume it's pretty unusual for almost almost what do you make it is that we're looking at right here. >> well, they certainly they got fully dressed. i mean right, and look, this is a criminal defendant at his sentencing, sitting in front of the american flag. i mean, i promise you, that's never happened before in american history. but as caitlin said, you know, the judge made clear that you are only getting this sentence. the da said the same thing because of your status as president. and look, in our legal and constitutional system, the president just is different. one thing we will never know. i wish we could somehow figure this out. what would the sentence have been if trump had not won the election? right? i mean, there certainly would have been some sort of probation judge merchan would he have sentenced to prison? it's one of those hypotheticals. >> we'll never know, because laura coates was saying just a few moments ago that this was essentially a slap on the wrist. this is actually less than that. >> as i say, at least you feel a slap on the wrist. i'm not sure this is even that, but again, it does make the

conviction official. >> caitlin. i mean, if we could show that image one more time of trump with his attorney there in that monitor, that is something else. and at one point, i think we just saw an image of him sort of pointing his finger. there it is at the camera. i guess we don't know what is going on there, but we can guess. >> well, and also, just to think of it in the full circle moment of, you know, we were covering the white house when the story was kind of first unraveling and being reported publicly, and we learned about the hush money payments and learned about the coverup and watched rudy giuliani go on tv and talk about this. that was so interesting. and to see how that has developed from this moment to now. trump appearing virtually for this sentencing, which, you know, his attorneys and people in his orbit, his top advisers had argued this is pretty much a best case scenario from where we were when this guilty verdict came down last may. they, you know, a lot of options, as ellie noted, had he lost, could have happened here. and so they were arguing essentially take this and go with it. but trump himself doesn't want to be sworn in as a convicted felon.

he now will be as a result of this. but i think to to judge marchand's point, i mean, the election happened months after trump was convicted. people, the american people, had enough time to take this guilty verdict and to to digest it. and still it didn't bother them enough to not reelect him. and that's his argument. >> you know, people have said that donald trump has just completed the greatest political comeback ever in our history. maybe i'm not a political expert, but legally, think back a year and a half ago. i don't believe there's ever been another human being in the history of this country who's been under four separate, simultaneous indictments in four separate jurisdictions. he was looking at four trials. any one of them could have resulted in his imprisonment. and now here we are. this is it. an unconditional discharge on one of the cases. completely impossible to have predicted this a year and a half ago. yeah. >> he pulled off this incredible political comeback. but at the same time he is going to be making history. he is going to be entering the white house as a convicted felon until he is able to deal with this in the courts. as that legal process

continues, is that essentially it? that is correct. >> he is a convicted felon. now. he will be ten days from now when he takes the oath of office. but again, important to keep in mind, like all defendants, he has his appeal rights that will take many, many months. >> so it could happen that he could go from the white house to the courthouse or appear virtually from the white house. as this appellate process continues on. >> yeah. so defendants don't usually physically appear for their appeals. it's done on paper with briefs. and then when there's oral arguments, his lawyers. caitlin raises a good question. who's even going to do this? because his whole team is coming with him to the administration. he'll find someone. but the lawyers do the oral argument. defendants usually do not attend those arguments. but, you know, six, eight months from now, maybe he'll choose to. >> we'll see. and, caitlin, you and i were just talking about covering trump at the white house. another person who was covering the white house with us was paula reid, who is sitting standing by. paula, your thoughts on what we just witnessed? pretty extraordinary stuff, not just the sentence of an unconditional release, which means he's not going to do any jail time. the fact that he is going to be going into the white house as a convicted felon. but the fact that he appeared virtually in those stunning images we just saw a

few moments ago of him appearing in the courtroom on a flat screen in front of the judge, with his attorney by his side and the flags behind him. >> yeah, just zoom out here. big picture. six months ago, he faced four criminal cases. he had been convicted in the new york hush money case, which was considered the least serious of the four. and now, even though he has been convicted, he has received really no punishment there. the two federal cases against him have been dismissed. and the georgia case, the prosecutor has been disqualified. that case is not completely dead, but it's basically on life support. i mean, if we look at his legal defense team, this is an extraordinary victory. now, they got a couple of big assists from the supreme court over the course of the last two years. but the fact that they have been able to keep their client from really facing any consequences across four criminal cases is truly extraordinary. and today is really the symbol of their successful defense of their client. >> all right. i want to go out to laura coates, who's been

watching this to laura. you've been covering this. and if you could put your legal analyst hat on for a moment, i mean, your thoughts on trump entering the white house as a convicted felon, but with the sentence of an unconditional release, what does it all add up to you? >> well, i want to put on my legal analyst beret. if you don't mind, because it already goes with the look today. but let me tell you what this looks like for many people. many people are looking at whether there are two systems of justice in america. well, i got to tell you, donald trump right now is in a league of his own for the reasons that my colleagues have described. but an unconditional release. normally, if somebody is committed a crime and does not have a jail sentence imposed, a probationary period comes in there checking in with the probation officer, they may have to engage in drug testing. they may have to have certain jobs or endeavor to have them community service. they have to keep their nose clean. how often have you heard that said, in order to make sure that they don't have the ability to be actually brought into a jail?

donald trump doesn't have any of those conditions. the condition he now has is to maintain his role as the commander in chief and president of the united states. but why? he is fighting this so hard is not just the pure ego or the aversion to having been convicted. it shows you the stigma in our country of what it's like to be a convicted felon. and the societal shame that for most defendants, it could entail. for him, it became a kind of, as we saw, political badge of honor, where it was at that point when this case was charged, that there was a changing of the winds when he was able to use that to propel him to the sympathy and political expedience that he was seeking. but in this case, it goes back to what they called election interference. imagine figures have names in the past. stormy daniels, michael avenatti, michael cohen. i am really curious to what they feel today, knowing what they endeavored a jury

finding him guilty and now essentially in like a lion out like a lamb or a president. >> yeah. all right. laura coates, thank you so much for that. and keep that hat on. it's cold out there in lower manhattan. i do want to go to kara scannell. she is just coming out of the courthouse. kara, if you can help us out for a moment, we were just looking at these images of trump and his attorney on that flat screen in the courtroom. and at one point, you could see trump pointing his finger at the camera. can you tell us what was going on there? can you give us sort of a ringside view of what was taking place? >> so that photo was taken by the photographers just before the proceeding got underway. they were allowed to come in to take photos of the defendant. so at that point, it was a lighter moment before the seriousness of today's events got underway. but as you could see, that is what the judge saw when he was sentencing trump, when he looked toward the video screen, he saw trump there on

the right next to his attorney, todd blanche, and that was broadcast into the courtroom, as well as views of the prosecution table and the judge. now, as i'm sure you've been talking about, donald trump did speak for about six minutes. he said that this was very terrible. he went on about the prosecution saying that the district attorney didn't want to bring it, saying that it was a witch hunt, criticizing the case itself, saying that he and this was unusual because he did not choose to testify during the trial, but now he was putting his own remarks, his own statements about some of the evidence in the case on the record, about what he was. he was indicted and convicted of falsifying the business records, marking certain things as legal fees that were actually repayments to michael cohen, who would advance the hush money to stormy daniels. so he was saying they're on the record under oath that these were legal fees. it won't have that much consequence now since he is convicted. but as he's going into this appellate process, it is something that

could come up as they're reviewing some of these evidentiary rulings. but trump putting on the record there his view of the evidence. you know, he's still under a partial gag order, but he did mention michael cohen, not by name, but saying that it was unfair that cohen, his former fixer, was allowed to testify against him, saying that they treated him like he was george washington when he was no george washington. in the end, he did declare to the judge he said he was totally innocent. i did nothing wrong. and again, repeating statements we've heard before saying that he was treated very, very unfairly. now, when judge juan merchan began to sentence trump, he was sitting at the bench. he turned to face the giant tv screen. so he was talking directly to trump through that screen and explaining that as this is a felony conviction, the potential sentence could have been as much as one and a third to four years. but he was saying, i need to lay out to you the reasons for my sentencing. underscoring here that, you know, there were some aggravating factors, some of which the judge had already laid out, and he said he wasn't going to repeat. that was like the ten violations of

that gag order holding him in contempt ten times, as well as what the judge had previously said was trump's disdain for the rule of law and the justice system. he didn't focus on that today. he was saying, though, that there were other factors that had more weight than that, and that was the fact that trump was going to be resuming the presidency. but the judge underscoring that it's the office of the presidency that has this extraordinary status, not the occupant of that office. so really trying to underscore that this was about the presidency and not that protections were because of the presidency, not donald trump, who he said is an ordinary citizen, would not have any of these protections. the judge did issue this sentence of an unconditional discharge, but he was underscoring that he felt it was important today. the people had voted and spoken. trump was going into the office, and because of the importance of the office, this was the most viable sentence, he said he could issue. to

bring finality to this case, to lock in the jury's jury's verdict and uphold this conviction. you know, his parting words to donald trump. he said, sir, i wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office, jim. >> all right. a fascinating day at the courthouse. kara scannell, thanks for covering all of it for us. thanks, everybody, for their analysis. but we do have other breaking stories to cover this hour. of course, we're going to get back out to los angeles for the latest on those wildfires. more after a short break. stay with us. >> i lay on my back, frozen, thinking the darkest thoughts, and then everything changed, dana said. you're still you and i love you, super man. >> the christopher reeve story, february 2nd. >> you don't stop being you just because you turn 65. but you do face more risk from flu and covid. last year alone, those

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from our affiliate kabc, live over the palisades fire. that is in los angeles county. of course, the sun just coming up, revealing more devastation, more horror, more heartbreak for the people in southern california. here's a look at the palisades fire from space. take a look at this. a russian cosmonaut took this photo last night from the international space station. you can see ribbons of fire surrounded by darkness. the inferno is destroying everything in its path. the palisades fire is now the most destructive to ever hit los angeles county. with thousands of structures burned across tens of thousands of acres. the fires have now scorched an area equal to the size of get this. minneapolis firefighters remain at the mercy of the weather with more gusty winds expected today. cnn's stephanie elam is in altadena. stephanie, forgive us for having you stand by for so long. but now that the sun has come up, my goodness, the devastation behind you, it's just heartbreaking to look at it really is. >> now that we can see out

here. and if you look behind me, jim, you can see it's the eerie forest of chimneys. that's all that's left in this block. i mean, it's actually more staggering to see, even for me, with the lights up, you can now see the foothills, the fire. this has been the eaton fire burning up behind the mountains now. but still this devastation here for these people, all that they've lost here. you see that eerie fire back there? because there's some gas leaks in the area. still showing you how the infrastructure here has been totally impacted. the lawn completely covered in ash and little pieces of like, charcoal. there's still ash blowing in the wind right now. this is just one block. and i can tell you across the street we see some of that. there's a couple of homes that are standing, but this is not an anomaly. this is indicative of what we are seeing across just the eaton fire as well as the palisades fire. you have thousands of people, 180,000 people who are under mandatory

evacuation. you also have 200,000 more people who are still under a warning. and then there's all the people who are still worrying about the air. people in l.a. county are walking around with their masks on. just because there is so much air. you can smell the fire. it's pretty much everywhere. you can smell it. so this is something that is affecting people far outside of the area. but then for the people who live here, a lot of them, they can't get in here. the national guard is blocking off roads because there were looters in here that have been arrested. so you can't get in here. overall, there's 8000 personnel, including firefighters, that are working to contain these blazes to stop them. i can look now and i can see that there's some smoking spots out there, too. so there is still some hot spots. we've seen fire crews still driving around trying to make sure that these places are safe because of first. the first thing they want to do is save lives and then property. and as far as lives are concerned, we do know that ten people have lost their lives. that number is expected to go up. we're expecting the acreage to continue to go up,

although there is some signs of containment on the palisades fire. this one? not so much. so you're talking about thousands of acres in l.a. county that have burned in a very short time. and jim, we've spoken so many times about these wildfires and how they burn through acres. but a lot of times, you know, they're back there in the mountains where it's a lot of open land, not in a very densely populated parts of town like this. that's what makes this different. and the fact that it is in january is unheard of. this is when we should be getting a lot of rain, and that lack of rain has also led to the fact that we've had a lot of brush grow up, because the last two winters actually were wet. so then you had the brush grow up, it dries out, and then it's kindling that with the right conditions and those fierce santa ana winds just made it ripe to run through these neighborhoods. it's devastating. >> yeah. stephanie. and, you know, it must be difficult to breathe where you are. so you have that medical mask on and you're in

this yellow fire jacket. they're fire retardant jacket, but everything behind you looks gray and ashen. it it looks apocalyptic. >> it's very much like that. you know, when i look at my own personal experience, i've covered a lot of wildfires. so you've seen stuff like this, right? but not in a densely populated area. it reminds me of some of the things that you see with hurricanes. but what's different is just the location and just how much is taken out here. that's what makes this so much more impactful for people here. these are people whose homes were their life savings. these are a lot of people who are like, we put all of it together. this was our retirement and now it's gone. and to figure out how you pick up and begin again, and in some of these places like palisades, how to look at the infrastructure, it's completely burned through and ruined as well. so it's not going to be just a matter of building up a home. it's figuring out how to rebuild the entire town center. yeah, those neighborhoods, all of that and figuring out whether or not people want to stay for that.

>> yeah, it is going to take so, so long to rebuild. and stephanie, thank you so much for your coverage. we appreciate it. thanks to everybody out there for us. stephanie elam live for us this morning. we appreciate it. in the meantime, among the buildings lost to the southern california wildfires, the pasadena jewish temple, the synagogue and its campus have been a pillar of the jewish community there for more than 100 years now. lost to the eaton fire on tuesday night, the temple's torres were saved, but many congregants lost their homes. some are now staying with synagogue leaders, two of them. they join us. now. i want to bring in rabbi jill gold. right. and cantor ruth berman harris of the pasadena jewish temple. ladies, thank you so much. our hearts go out to you. i'm so sorry for everything that is happening right now. rabbi, let me start with you. how are you doing? how are the members of your congregation doing? >> good morning. thanks so much for having us. our congregants are varied. some of them have lost their homes. some of them

have been evacuated, are staying with relatives or friends out of town. um, but we've all lost our spiritual home, our synagogue. and i think we are in a combination of deep grief and mourning and, um, are also thriving in our resolve to rebuild our shul and rebuild our school. i'm the director of education, and so we have a lot of families who are impacted, but we are, um, doing something very jewish, which is both grieving and being optimistic for the future. mhm. >> well, you know, our hearts go out to you just to hear that, that you can even contemplate being positive at this point is something of a miracle. cantor berman, let me go to you. we read that your husband and you, you both rescued the torahs. you sent us some pictures that we're looking at now of what you've been able to salvage. that is remarkable in and of itself.

can you tell us about that? >> sure. thank you. um, it was about 7 p.m. when i got the phone call that the fires were approaching and the winds were ramping up, and, um, i found myself in one of those moments where you don't really feel. but you know, what's the right thing to do, and you just do it. and so i said to my congregant, okay, i'm coming. i'm coming. um, it was not as easy to get to the synagogue. the streets were already, um, closed. but i managed to get there with my husband and, um, i think by the time i got there, there was a lot of smoke. we still had electricity, but, uh, our congregants and one of our staff members were able to take all the torah scrolls out of the two sanctuaries that we've had and place them in the lobby so they would be ready for us. um, we started piling up the torahs in the

back of my car, and i remember that there were a couple of other ritual objects that were crucial, um, um, to, to bring. so i grabbed them and the electricity cut off. there was a lot of smoke. um, it was just we had to leave, so i made sure that i checked with my husband. i couldn't see him. there was so much smoke. i checked with him. do you have all of them? and he said, i think so. and we just left. >> yeah. and, rabbi, i understand you're holding shabbat tonight. how are you even possibly going to do that? >> we are. excuse me. we are holding shabbat tonight. um, at the very gracious invitation of a local catholic girls school, the mayfield senior school in pasadena. they are hosting us, and we will be there tonight for services. we will be there tomorrow for services. we will

bring one of the torah scrolls that cantor ruth rescued. um, and we will read from it tomorrow, as we do every shabbat read from the torah. and then on sunday we will have a morning minyan. one of our students who's becoming bar mitzvah will be there. the rest of our students will be there to support him in his service. and then our teachers and our staff and our students will be there to connect, find each other. um, and, uh, and be together. that's that's what we do. we are a resilient people. we have a long history of resilience. we have a long history of pivoting. we have a long history of carrying our torah wherever we need it to be. and, um, this evening will be no different from what it's been all along. and what it will always be. >> well, glad to hear about that ecumenical show of support. we're all going to be looking to our faith here in the coming days to get through all of this. rabbi jill cantor, ruth, thank you so much for

your time this morning. all. we just really hope for the best. and if there's anything we can do, please reach out, let us know. we'll be happy to respond as quickly as we can. thank you so much. and if you want to help the wildfire victims in the l.a. area, please do go to cnn.com. slash impact or text wildfires to 70, 7070. to donate. take a look at those images right there. it just breaks your heart. please keep these folks in mind in the coming days. we'll be right back. >> kobe the making of a legend premieres january 25th on cnn. >> aveeno introduces new daily moisturizing cream. it's clinically proven to moisturize instantly strengthens skin's barrier for softer, smoother skin. aveeno. r of oat for sensitive skin. >> want a next level clean swish with the whoa of listerine? it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs for five times more cleaning power than brushing and flossing alone.

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donald trump in new york. we want to go right now to some prerecorded audio that is being fed in of the sentencing hearing. you're going to hear from donald trump and judge juan merchan. let's go to that audio now. you're listening to the sound of silence, ladies and gentlemen. the audio is going to get started in just a moment. here we were just hearing from the feed coming out of new york that this was about to get going. elie honig is with me right now. i just want to bring in ellie and ellie. if i cut you off because we're going into the audio, please forgive me, but what we're going to be listening to is basically what just took place. what about 20 or 30 minutes ago when this when we were playing the highlights of this on the air, when we were reading the highlights of what was taking place on the air. we're now going to hear what actually took place, right? >> this was a sentencing of donald trump over zoom. we are hearing some of the sounds of it come through, but we'll we'll stop when the real part

starts. yeah. but yeah, the way this sentencing works is really aside from the fact that it's the president elect sitting in the defense chair, it seems like it was a fairly straightforward sentencing. the prosecutor speaks first, then the defense lawyer, then the defendant, donald trump. and we know he did address the court in pretty heated fashion. and then ultimately judge merchan finishes. it took 30, 35 minutes, which is pretty average for a sentencing. so if you take away the fact that this is the guy who's been elected president, pretty routine sentencing. yeah. >> and it sounds like from what we were hearing just before we came back from the commercial break, you're going to hear about five, six, seven minutes of donald trump, five, six, seven minutes of judge merchan. it sounds as though at a couple of points, trump got a little heated in some of his remarks. he obviously still objects to what's taking place today. he is now officially a convicted felon, but it sounds as though judge merchan sort of kept his cool and laid out some of his decision making. the mindset behind some of the decision making that went into today. >> yeah, the big point that

judge merchan seems to have stressed is i'm giving you this sentence of unconditional discharge of no prison or probation or fines because of your status as the president elect. i hear some of this coming through now. >> yeah, i guess we'll yield. well, donald trump, you are before the court. so this is the clerk calling the case. your conviction by trial to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree before being sentenced. the court will allow you, your attorney and the assistant district attorney an opportunity to address the court with any matters relevant to sentencing for the people. thank you. >> where's the preferred place for me to stand? wherever you feel comfortable. the defendant in this case, as you know, stands convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree all class e felonies. each carries a range of authorized sentencing options for as much as one and a third to four years in state prison, to a variety of

non-incarcerated sentences. in this court's january 3rd decision on the defendant's clayton motion, your honor indicated an inclination to impose an unconditional discharge under all the circumstances of this case, its unique posture, and the defendant's status as president elect. the people recommend a sentence of an unconditional discharge in finding the defendant guilty. in this case, the jury necessarily found unanimously that the defendant falsified 34 separate entries in his business records with the intent to defraud, which included an intent to commit or conceal a conspiracy to promote his own election by unlawful means. having presided over the trial, your honor is very familiar with the conduct, its seriousness and the overwhelming evidence to support the jury's verdict. i'm certainly not going to rehash that now. in last

week's decision on january 3rd, this court referred to the gravamen of the defendant's conduct, his criminal conduct in this case as constituting, quote, premeditated and continuous deception. the verdict was delivered by a jury that was carefully chosen using an extensive questionnaire based on suggestions from both parties and after thorough questioning of the prospective jurors by both sides. the verdict in this case was unanimous and decisive, and it must be respected as this court has observed. quote, the sanctity of a jury verdict and the deference that must be accorded to it is a bedrock principle in our nation's jurisprudence. the defendant's conduct before, during, and after this trial also merits consideration instead of preserving,

protecting, and defending our constitutionally established system of criminal justice, the defendant, the once and future president of the united states, has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy. far from expressing any kind of remorse for his criminal conduct, the defendant has purposefully bred disdain for our judicial institutions and the rule of law. and he's done this to serve his own ends and to encourage others to reject the jury verdict that he finds so distasteful. he has characterized these proceedings as corrupt, rigged, a witch hunt, or a sham too many times to tabulate the defendant's rhetoric has only ratcheted up since this court's rulings on his motions to dismiss, he has been unrelenting in his unsubstantiated attacks upon this court and its family.

individual prosecutors and their families, the witnesses, the grand jury, the trial jury, and the justice system as a whole. the defendant has not only been held in contempt by other jurists and other matters, but this court alone found the defendant in contempt for ten distinct violations of the order restricting extrajudicial speech in his legal filings, the defendant has used dangerous rhetoric and leveling accusations of intentionally unlawful and unconstitutional conduct on the part of this court and the prosecution as this court has noted, the defendant's conduct, quote, constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law itself. moreover, the defendant has publicly threatened to retaliate against the prosecutors who have sought to hold him accountable in this and other matters, and the

courts, who have endeavored to fairly and faithfully adjudicate these matters. such threats are designed to have a chilling effect, to intimidate those who have the responsibility to enforce our laws in the hopes that they will ignore the defendant's transgressions, because they fear that he is simply too powerful to be subjected to the same rule of law as the rest of us. in his 2024 end of year report, united states supreme court chief justice roberts warned of the dangers of such conduct, quote, public officials, to regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges for example, suggesting political bias in the judge's adverse rulings without credible basis for

such allegations. end quote chief justice roberts continued, quote, attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed. public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others. chief justice roberts also spoke of the dangers of disinformation, which are, quote, magnified by social media, which provides a ready channel to instantly spread rumor and false information. put simply, this defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm's way. in the probation report, which we just received this morning, the the author, having

interviewed the defendant, noted that the defendant sees himself as above the law and won't accept responsibility for his actions. and that's certainly consistent with everything else that we've seen. now, in a typical case, both the offense conduct and these other exacerbating factors would impact the appropriate sentence. but in this case, we must be respectful of the office of the presidency and mindful of the fact that the defendant will be inaugurated as president in ten days. any undischarged portion of the sentence has the potential to interfere with the defendant's performance of the duties of his office. as a practical matter, the most sensible sentence prior to his inauguration is an unconditional discharge. the court has has expressed an inclination to do exactly that because, in the court's words,

quote, the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow defendant to pursue his appellate options is to proceed to sentence. now, as you know, in new york, a conditional discharge is authorized by the penal law. quote, if the court, having regard to the nature and circumstances of the offense and to the history, character and condition of the defendant is of the opinion that neither the public interest nor the ends of justice would be served by a sentence of imprisonment, and that probation supervision is not appropriate. an unconditional discharge is authorized if a conditional discharge is authorized, and, quote, if the court is of the opinion that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant's release. because these crimes are felonies, the court must set forth in the record the reasons for its action. the american public has the right

to a presidency unencumbered by pending court proceedings or ongoing sentence related obligations, but imposing this sentence ensures that finality. sentencing the defendant permits this court to enter judgment to cement the defendant's status as a convicted felon while he pursues whatever appeals he intends to pursue, and it gives full effect and respect to the jury's verdict while preserving the defendant's ability to govern. people therefore recommend that this court impose a sentence of an unconditional discharge. thank you. >> thank you. counsel. >> thank you, your honor. i very, very much disagree with

much of what the government just said about this case, about the legitimacy of what happened in this courtroom during the trial and about president trump's conduct fighting this case from before it was indicted to while it was indicted to the jury's verdict and even to this day, what the government just said presupposes something that we disagree with very much, which was that this was an appropriate case to be brought. >> it was not this case, without a doubt, knowing everything we know about the timing of the investigation, the fact that multiple prosecutors looked at the facts of this case, including prosecutors within the district attorney's office in new york county, and made a decision not to bring charges

as the court knows, shortly after president trump announced his intention to run for reelection this case was started for what amounted to a third time, which brings us ultimately to where we are today. a lot of what the government just said presupposes that this case is legally appropriate, and that the charges that were brought by the people were consistent with the laws of new york. again, we very much disagree with that. and and as everybody has been noted, because it's true, we certainly intend on appealing that. and it's not, by the way, just counsel and president trump that feels that way. there's many, many, many legal experts. that share the same views that i just said, which is that legally, this case should not have been brought both based on the facts that were established at trial

and also on the legal basis for which they were brought. but it's also not just the legal experts, not just counsel, and not just president trump, but the majority of the american people also agree that this case should not have been brought. i mean, the interesting thing about the fact that there was a trial for the first time in our history, a criminal trial during an election season, is that the american voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this is the kind of case that should have been brought. and they decided, and that's why in ten days, president trump is going to assume the office of the president of the united states, and certainly we're here for the court to sentence president trump to an unconditional discharge. and for that, it's a very sad day. it's a sad day for president trump and his family and friends. but it's also, in counsel's view, a sad

day for this country because this was a case without a doubt, that was brought by a district attorney who promised that he would go after president trump if elected, and felt like he had to go through with that promise. and so that's sad, and i hope and i know that president trump shares this view that this will never happen again in this country. and so we we certainly understand where we are today. we very much intend on pursuing an appeal of this verdict. and, and, and what happened during this investigation. and we certainly believe that the only appropriate sentence, if one is to be imposed at all, which we very much believe it shouldn't be, and that the case should be dismissed, is a sentence of an unconditional discharge thank you. >> thank you. would your client

like to be heard? >> yes. thank you, your honor. this has been a very terrible experience. i think it's been a tremendous setback for new york and the new york court system. this is a case that alvin bragg did not want to bring. and he thought it was, from what i read and from what i hear, that inappropriately handled before he got there, a gentleman from a law firm came in and acted as a district attorney, and that gentleman, from what i heard, was a criminal or almost criminal in what he did. it was very inappropriate. it was a somebody involved with my political opponent, part of the records that we're talking about, they're saying, i just noticed where he said i was falsifying business records.

well, the falsification of business records, as they say it was calling a legal expense in the books where everybody could see them a legal expense. in other words, that legal fees or legal expense were put down as legal expense by accountants. they weren't put down by me. they were put down by accountants. i didn't call them construction concrete work. i didn't call them electrical work. i didn't call them anything. they called a legal fee or a legal expense, a legal expense. and for this i got indicted. it's incredible, actually. now, if you look, my attorney alluded to it. the top legal scholars and legal pundits in this country, the ones that are quoted all the time on television that are making their views felt and highly respected. people have said everyone, virtually everyone that i know of, i haven't seen any. to the contrary. not one and not these people are not exactly friends of mine, to put it mildly. but they all said this is a case

that should have never been brought. it's an injustice of justice. uh, very respected jonathan turley, andy mccarthy, judge david rifkin, a wonderful man who just passed away, by the way, uh, gregg jarrett, elie honig from cnn, of all places, cnn said that paul ingrassia, alan dershowitz, they all said this is not a case that should be brought. it's not. think about it. legal expenses are down as legal expenses. and and i get indicted for business records. everybody should be so accurate. it's been a political witch hunt. it was done to damage my reputation so that i would lose the election. and obviously that didn't work. and the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom. they got to see this firsthand, and then they voted, and i won and got the largest number of votes by