merchan said i will escape this. the -- really, merchan is not going to punish him is one of the reasons to let it go. they were played. those four justices in the minority knew that and saw that. i'm sure they did. again, i think the rehnquist and scalia would have seen it. they had more reason to take this case than they did bush versus gore and now we're stuck with it. >> dana: mark, thank you so much. we just showed you video of todd blanch, president trump's lawyer, who has left the courtroom. andy, where does this go from here? if the gag order doesn't exist anymore, what would you suggest? >> i think finality for the goose is finality for the gander. final means it is over, which means merchan doesn't have any jurisdiction over this case anymore. going up on appeal the case is over. that's what they said they wanted. that would be the end of the case. to my mind the end of the case means it is the end of merchan's jurisdiction to tell president trump anything. he will have to wait for the next case. >> john: i

the law requires that judge merchan explain that reasoning on a felony. so that's why he's taking these steps. that's unusual because it's atypical. but in terms of that promise sentence that happens now, the judge here, judge merchan, is discussing some of that reasoning as we speak, and he is making a point to say they're dealing with a defendant unlike any other, somebody who is about to assume the office of the presidency. >> again, such a historic moment here, he says, to be clear, the protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor. do not reduce the seriousness of the crime. this court must respect the law. however, despite the protection, it is clear from legal precedent which is scarce. donald trump, the citizen, is not entitled to those protections. but he also notes that the fact that he's about to be president is a factor in the sentence he's about to deliver that overrides all others, he says, i think that this is an important day. >> it's a historic day, but it's also a day in which we see the rule of law enforce

verdict, that judge merchan went verdict, thatjudge merchan went on and on in his decision.d decision about the importance of preserving that decision, preserving that decision, preserving the jury's decision here. you know, it really underscores the importance of the jury process. underscores the importance of thejury process. he underscores the importance of the jury process.— thejury process. he did make those comments _ thejury process. he did make those comments with - thejury process. he did make those comments with regard l the jury process. he did make | those comments with regard to the sanctity of the judgement, that's the way he put it. but do you think it will be perceived that way by the wider public, someone is convicted of a crime, but ultimately doesn't receive a punishment for it? it's not uncommon for people to have felony convictions and receive very light or limited punishments at all. sometimes the conviction itself carries so much baggage it is enough the person has that conviction, or has gone through the process. they don't receive a sentence or a fin

but judge merchan excusing acting state judge conflicting democrat hacked rogue george merchan her preventingstifying. even at this point is illustrated by the prosecution the underlying crime was a federal election connected crime, why? because bragg had no authority to prosecute a case the basis of which was a federal campaign law violation. the judge had no authority to adjudicate. until the very end when it was too late for the defense to do much about it. think about all of us the nondisclosure agreement were never a campaign contribution under federal law. there is no underlying criminal violation. these misdemeanors could not be resuscitated let alone turn into felonies let alone turn into 34 felonies. there was no jurisdiction for the d.a. no jurisdiction to pursuing the case or holding a trial. merchan conduct during the was openly and grotesquely stall as he repeated angrily ruled against legitimate motions by the defense against most of their arguments he ruled against legitimate objections during the trial often angrily admonished the lawyers in front of the jury to send them anot

. —— judgejuan merchan. case before this. -- judge juan merchan. ., case before this. -- judge juan merchan judge juan merchan. ., ., ., ., merchan. how would that line to any person _ merchan. how would that line to any person facing _ merchan. how would that line to any person facing the _ merchan. how would that line to any person facing the same - any person facing the same conviction and sentencing? for a few reasons. _ conviction and sentencing? f3" a few reasons, donald trump has got a lot of breaks here. first of all he has the resources to challenge this case at every turn and so most criminal defendants do not have those resources. so he has been able to do things that most people do not have the ability to do and also he has been treated and also he has been treated and i'm sure he will argue this is all politically motivated and he was treated unfairly but if you can trust him with other criminal defendants, i think judge merchan was very, very careful to handle this appropriately, cautiously and in not do anything and say anything out of balance here. i anything out of balance

at the same time, merchan is doing it this friday.o time to actually go to the appeals court even ultimately to the u.s. supreme court to get this stopped. so that merchan can guarantee that when president trump takes the oath of office he will be the first felon to ever become president. i think it is a terrible thing for our political system. it is just going to make sure lawfare continues into the future. >> bill: you are reading politics into this. here is what trump said late sunday night. the legal system is broken and businesses can't take a chance in getting caught up in the quicksand. it is all rigged in this case against a political opponent, me. andy mccarthy echoes you. he says there is no public clamor to see trump sentenced prior to taking the nation's highest office. there is a spiteful new york progressive democratic interest in branding the republican president-elect a convicted felon. i think that reflects what you are saying. trump also said in his statement that bragg, alvin bragg, the d.a. in new york, did not wan

we're all going to stay closely attuned to see what happens from judge juan merchan. garrett, thank you so much, it's been a busy day. as for all of you watching, that does do it for us this hour. join me this weekend on alex >> hi everyone, here in washington, d.c. we come on the air with some big breaking news, judge mershon, the judge overseeing the trump hush money case has ordered donald trump to appear for sentencing on january 10th, that is just 10 days before he is set to be inaugurated, the judge saying that regardless of his status as a future president the wheels of justice must keep turning, the judge saying the defendant has been found guilty on 34 felony counts, the significance of the fact that the verdict was handed down by a unanimous jury of defendants peers after trial cannot possibly be overstated, the sanctity of the jury verdict is a principal in our nations prudence. and that is where we start today with top former official at the department of justice and msnbc legal analyst, andrew weissmann, and at the table, msnbc political analyst, juanita

we believe merchan went with.ore, during and after the trial merits consideration. defendant wanted future president far from expressing any remorse has spread disdain for institution and rule of law. done this for his own ends and characterized the proceedings as corrupt, sham, ratcheted up since ruling on the motion to dismiss. he has been unrelenting. he is also, andy, just been agreeing with the critics of this case. >> that's right. he hasn't been able. like the one person on planet who is not allowed to say a lot of what he thinks about this because there has been a gag order on him. i would just say this, john. remember the way the case was pitched to the jury and that this has been echoed by judge merchan ever since. what they said is that this crime, which is normally a misdemeanor, this falsification of business records, here it was a felony because trump was trying to cover up another crime. the crime they said he was trying to cover up was theft of the 2016 presidential election. stealing the most impo

why did merchan say the sentence basically is you are guilty.re guilty but i'm not going to punish you. if he hadn't sentence donald trump or one of the other things i just mentioned the supreme court would have to take it up. it would interfere with the office of the president. they have to take it up he says let me put the scarlet letter on trump. not given any other penalty and then he is stuck in new york. what about the supreme court? those justices who refuse to take the case bought into merchan ploy lee cited in the order sentence of unconditional discharge after a brief virtual hearing what's the big deal? that does not interfere with the office of the president. no it gives sanction to in the stealing of a federal case that did not even exist by a state court. that's what they did unless they eventually fix it, that is going to stand. that is the bottom line. that's was going on here. well, time will tell i customize and save with liberty mutual. customize and sa— (balloon doug pops & deflates) and then i wake up. is limu with you in al

judge merchan: thank you. was there anything about the provision port you would like to put on the record? >> no, judge -- judge merchan: you need more time? mr. steinglass: thank you judge. i don't think there is anything that we need -- judge merchan: thank you. >> donald trump, you are before the court for sentence on 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 assistant district attorney an opportunity to address the court with any matters relevant to sentencing. >> where is the preferred place for me to stand? judge merchan: wherever you feel comftable. mr. steinglass: the defendant in this case, as you know, stands convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree all class three felonies. each carries a rge of authorized sentencing options for as much as one and a third to four years in state prison to a vaety of non-incarcerated or he sentences. in this court's janu

not because judge merchan made any mistakes. in fact, the prosecutors, as far as i can tell, didn't make any significant mistakes. but the land shifted under their feet with the immunity decision. >> but but that was also why judge merchan ultimately delayed sentencing initially was because of the immunity decision and an opportunity to step back, take a look at that piece of this case and what had been presented to the jury. and lisa, what did judge merchan decide as he was looking at the evidence and whether madeleine westerhout hope hicks made a difference in the verdict? >> well, and there were some other official acts evidence as well. for example, donald trump tweeted repeatedly from his time in the white house about michael cohen. that was evidence that the prosecution used at trial and evidence that the supreme court said has a presumption of immunity attached to it. because most presidential communications can be characterized as within the scope of your duties. but that having been said, merchan considered those argume

juan merchan. who is he?e supreme court justice and you want to state him and what is the sentencing about? we have to be real about it. we have to be real about it. the unconstitutional new york case and trump's payment to stormy daniels that will likely get tossed out on appeal and who's back former deputy assistant john yoo. john, great to see you. what do you make of all this? >> i think judge merchan's white wail tomorrow and he and district attorney alvin bragg in new york city have been up to all along because he's already said he's not going to sentence trump to jail, but he still pes to sentence trump with just 11 days before trump becomes president so there's no time for trump to effectively appeal this case. at the same time we all know that merchan is going to either have to throw the case out or hold a new jury trial at some point because the supreme court on july 1 said this trial was flawed. what merchan would do and it's political is dragged for his feet for six months and could have done any

what are the highlights from merchan's ruling and what comes next? >> reporter: the top line is that the former president, the president-elect, is not going to face jail time for the guilty verdict on those 34 felony counts that the jury found him guilty for back in may. and alex, judge merchan goes as far as to suggest that he is most likely to grant donald trump unconditional discharge, which essentially would amount to no probation and most likely no fine either. so no substantive penalty for the felony conviction. now, let's be clear. if you look at judge merchan in his ruling last night to go forward with the sentencing on january 10th, he writes in part in this very statement that, quote, it seems proper at this juncture to make nope the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction, but one the people concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation. a sentence of unconditional discharge pears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow the defendant to pursu

what other options did judge merchan have here? you just heard tim parlatore say he felt like this was the best option he had. do you agree? >> i do. >> i do think this was the best option. in fact, months ago on cnn, i said that he did have other sentencing options at his fingertips, so to speak. he had state prison. he had local jail. he had probation. he had split sentence. intermittent sentence, conditional discharge, fines. he had all of that. but what we do as judges when you're sentencing someone is that you look at the totality of the situation to make the best decision based on the facts presented to you, the facts of the case, the conviction that it is, and all the other intervening and other underlying issues. and that's what he did here. and what judge merchan did was really weigh, uh, the concept that no one is above the law and the sanctity of the jury verdict with the enormity of the role of the president of the united states, and he judges balance things every single day in almost every decision. this was a big deci

but it's nothing to do with the supreme court. >> so paula was talking about how merchan judge merchan is making it clear that that that he's not looking to impose jail time or that wouldn't be the recommended sentence. but just to be clear, the reporting had been well before trump even won the white house. that that was likely to be the case. right? so that's not this seismic shift. if he was going to be sentenced to prison and now he isn't. unclear what would have happened, but the reporting had been that that wasn't the direction it was going. so it just begs the question, ryan, that if judge merchan is going ahead with the sentencing, why do you think he's doing it if he doesn't intend to send him to prison? or it may, from what paul is saying, may not intend to punish him in any way at all. >> so i think it actually will be not to punish him in any way at all. not only no incarceration, but judge merchan refers to part of the new york state code that also means no fine, which that's also remarkable. like a person is convicted of 34 felonies, then there's not even a fine. i think t

judge merchan says donald trump can appear virtually for the sentencing. ming all eyes on friday. cb cotton, thank you. anita: all right for more on this let's bring in former federal prosecutor jonathon fahy, great to have you with us today. we both watched cb cotton's report, and she said that judge juan merchan wants to sentence president-elect trump to an unconditional discharge out of respect for presidential the presidential immunity doctrine that means no prison time, no jail time. anything like that -- but you know, to many looking at this it does seem vindictive can you explain to us what this means. >> it does seem vindictive this case is law fair at its worst and more so on the alvin bragg end it have but basically what he's doing is saying conviction will stand but they won't be any punishment at all. again that sort of begs a question why not just a dismiss the canes let us move on and if you look at the immunity decision and the immunity decision basically from the supreme court said donald trump had immunity the entire time. it wasn't that they just created immunity

he wasn't going to get a favorable ruling from judge merchan.can take the case, now he could take the appeal to a new panel of judges and challenged the underlying conviction. >> edward: john, we are talking about first the appeal goes to new york, which is not favorable to a republican president, so this appeal process, how long could it take, and by the end of his first term -- or by the end of this term -- are we talking years, are we talking months, how long will it take for the president to maybe get rid of this altogether on appeal? >> you're asking me a hard question. as yogi berra said, it is hard to make predictions, especially about the future. but let me just say, i would say a year. i think you are right, as a criminal defendant, gets accelerated forward. i think trump could get to not just the highest court in new york state, but he might be able to get to the supreme court in a year. here is another thing we haven't considered. the trump justice department can now make life very difficult for the state of new york if the d.a. here

merchan also said he will not put trump in jail.eam called the decision a direct violation of the supreme court's ruling on presidential immunity and said this, quote, there should be no sentencing. let's turn first to molesa murray of nyu law school. she was a clerk for sonia sotomayor before the supreme court. donald trump might not be going to jail but this is not the outcome he wanted. does any of this surprise you? >> not really surprised by any of this, stephanie. it was always going to be an uphill battle for former future president trump to have this conviction entirely vacated, which is what he wanted to have happen. judge merchan was always pretty firm that he wasn't going to be yanked around on this. and i thought that the district attorney alvin bragg made very good points about the sanctity of a jury verdict, the fact 12 individuals came together and unanimously found donald trump had done these things, that he was guilty on 34 counts. and that verdict, which is bedrock in our legal system, had to stand. so i'm not surp

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. >

yesterday judge juan merchan announced the sentencing date. in an 18-page decision merchan denied trump's attempts to set aside the jury's verdict finding him guilty for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. 34 felonies. but, at the same time, merchan also signaled that he is likely to impose a unconditional discharge, which means no jail time or even probation for donald trump. although, his felony convictions would still stand. joining me now is joyce vance, co-host of the sisters in law podcast. you have talked to me off a ledge many times when it comes to my anger and ire. merchan is considering a sentence of unconditional discharge, as i just noted for our viewers no jail time, no probation. why not just sentence him for the 34 felonies that a jury found him guilty for and just hold it inned vance until he's done serving in office? >> so let me try to talk you off the ledge of this one a little bit, katie, and we'll see if it works. i think what the judge is doing here is he's trying to send a final message about the rule of la

so, judgejuan merchan saying he won't dismiss this case, that presidential immunity does not extend tonald trump will have to be sentenced, but that he intends to issue no punishment in this case. earlier, i spoke to a former us federal prosecutor sarah krissoff and asked if its usual to see a case like this closed with no punishment. it is pretty unusual but there's a provision in the penal code that allows for this. it's an unconditional discharge, no prison time, no fine, no probationary sentence, but it allows a conviction to stand. so, there is this existing code that allows the judge to do this. it's a real option, he has signalled very strongly this is what he intends to do. and i think it allows him to preserve the conviction but also, you know, allow the — avoid the drama of a sentence that would include prison time, or some sort of fine, or other thing the president would certainly challenge. i wonder then why you think he may be considering this option? you mention avoiding that drama. because there had been another option floated, that was the case made by district attorney

it's been a while, but you might remember a guy named juan merchan?s the manhattan judge overseeing donald trump's trial in new york featuring dozens of bizarre paperwork charges from a supposed crime with, you know, no victims. but after the supreme court ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for officials actions, trump asked merchan to dismiss the case all together. naturally, the liberal manhattan judge said no. not only is he keeping the guilty verdict in tact, merchan also announced that he will be sentencing trump on january 10th, less than two weeks before the inauguration. though he did make it clear that trump is not facing any jail time. in an exclusive interview with fox news digital, trump called, quote, "the most conflicted judge in the history of juris prudence" and said the judge is clearly working on behalf of the democrats since their other witch hunts have failed. here with reaction are fox news legal analyst gregg jarrett and former harvard law professor alan dershowitz. gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. greg

judge merchan: thank you mr. trump. mr. trump you appear before this cour today to colu this criminal proceeding by the imposition of sentence. although i have kethe unusual step of informing you in vae of my inclinations, before imposing sentence i believe it is important for you, as well as those observing these proceedings to understand my reasoning for the sentence i am about to impose. the impositi o sentence is one of the most difficult and significant decisions any criminal court judge is called upono make. our legislature sets the parameters for authorized sentence but it is a judge that must decide on what constitutes just conclusion for a verctf guilty. the courhabroad discretion in determining what evidence it will see to arrive at an appropriate sentence. in doing so,heourt must consider the facts of the case along with any aggravating circumstances. in my time on the bench iav been called upon to grapple with the weig o this responsibility forouless defendants found guilty after trial for an assortment of offen

liz: final word on the fight between trump and merchan?ng that the appellate judge of new york denied a stay of trump's sentencing and the system in new york is stacked with liberal judges as biased as merchan and the ruling is wrong and the constitution and the presidential transition act prohibit a state or local official like bragg or merchan from interfering with or disrupting the transfer of power before inauguration. president elect, i think is immune from any criminal process just as serving presidents are, but merchan, you know, deliberately waited till the eleventh hour to prevent trump from really exercising an appeal and gave him five working days so sentencing may well happen on friday. we'll wait and see. liz: gregg jarrett, thank you for spending time with us tonight. good to see you again. >> my pleasure. >> need to uphold the nbi and i -- fbi and i guarantee i'm at like 90% with the agents. we're going to make the fbi great again and the department of justice fair and strong and fair again. >> he is on his way out and no, w

this weekend on social media he said the opposite of that continuing to blast judge merchan as being aligned and making the case he is protected from presidential immunity claims of courts which at this point in time judge merchan has dismissed and said the sentencing would move forward . it did not toss the indictment, it did not toss the verdict despite best efforts of donald trump's attorneys at this point in time. in a statement from the spokesman for the president- elect here in just the last half hour he wrote in part that the justice system the courts should put a stay on this for the purpose of bringing americans together and uniting the country around donald trump as he is set to be sworn in on january 20th and that americans voted to end what he called political prosecutions. this has been the crux of trump and his team's argument at this point in time and is going to be a question this afternoon of whether judge merchan grants the stay or not and whether the sentencing on friday morning will proceed. >> thank you for that. lisa, i want to play what someone else said who wa

>> i don't expect judge merchan will grant the stay. there is no legal basis whatsoever.ything donald trump should be grateful for the opinion judge merchan entered on friday because he said although he was upholding the conviction of donald trump setting the sentencing for friday, he planned to give him no prison time and planned to end the case with an unconventional discharge, without further penalty. but i imagine donald trump will do what he always does, fight every step of the way, but i don't see any legal basis here for relief. >> barbara, the big issue is if merchan rules, you know, no jail time, there is a change in what donald trump will be cataloged as. >> yes, that's right. he will stand as a convicted felon. the president in history of the united states has entered office with a felony conviction and that will stand. donald trump has appeals after sentencing but typically a judgment is not right for a pallet review -- appellate review and that does not occur. i don't see any legal basis. now we have seen courts bend over backwards before to accommodate trump

they'll defend merchan.reme court that will offer relief because this is truly the most aidoo bombal -- abombal because of the law and -- abuse of the law and it was throwing the election in democrat's face and it was backfiring and americans watch statutes growth statutes testily -- grotesquelys were shredded, and voters rallied behind trump and they delivered the ultimate jury verdict that nullified what is essentially a crooked case. this wasn't a fair trail. it was a farce. will: that farce by the way, just to be clear, gregg, underlined by the fact there was no punishment; right? if the goal was -- the goal clearly was just to get that one tag line if they could, convicted felon donald trump. a tag line that didn't work and depriving him of the office of the presidency. >> that's right. under new york law and nobody is convicted of anything till the judge enters in sentencing the judgment, they've wanted to stain donald trump as a convicted felon, even though the media immediately after the jury verdict

hoy en nueva york, el juez juan merchÁn sentenciÓ a trump a libertad incondicional por los pagos a laistoria del paÍs. donald trump se convierte en el primer presidente electo que gobernarÁ la naciÓn siendo delincuente convicto. >> lawful sentence of a judgement of conviction without encouraging upon the highest offers in the land is an unconditional discharge. >> trump y su abogado se conectaron virtualmente desde mar a lago y en la sala del tribunal de manhattan, completamente lleno de periodistas y fiscales. el juez merchÁn le impuso liberaciÓn incondicional sin tiempo de cÁrcel, ni multas, ni castigos sustantivos. solo la etiqueta de convicto, pues, dijo, fue la Única opciÓn. a diez dÍas de que tome la casa blanca. pero para trump no es pena menor, dice este experto legal fuera del caso, el rÉcord, el antecedente penal es un castigo y es algo que te sigue el resto de tu vida. >> en teorÍa hay varios estados que no le permitirÍan votar a hay agencias de crÉdito que no le darÍan prÉstamos. >> al llegar su turno de hablar, el presidente electo, quien fue hallado culpable en mayo por

so, we are down to judge merchan to being the one and only hero here. i will let you talk now. >> reporter: no, no, i am sorry i chuckled katie, i wonder if you would represent me if i have former congressman immunity. that is what i laughed. something i can utilize. i get in trouble all of the time as you both know. here is where if me and you were sitting around drinking whiskey and i love talking to you both about this. i can not get over the fact that january 6th is not a bigger deal for the voting public, especially the popular vote when it came to the election. there are things that i never saw come out during the actual investigation. the 35 million lines of data and call records we sent to the archives, i never saw that evidence used. we encrypted it. it was not accessed. i am wondering what the five million papers of call records we processed what happened to that. we saw it. the other thing, the impeachment, the second impeachment, we pro voided, i did, people can look it up, liz called me on january 6th, the morning of january 7th to look at

merchan didn't sentence the president after 34 felonies.tells you all you need to know lawfare and election interference. >> laura: sol, on the supreme court decision yesterday, where you had the liberal justices and the chief and amy coney barrett saying we're not going to get involved now, and then you had, you know, the four conservatives. kavanaugh, alito, thomas and gorsuch, say no, no, essentially a matter of national importance, they thought it was important to step in even in interlog tore basis. were you surprised by that vote? >> i wasn't surprised by the result. i was a little surprised that it was close. keep in mind, all they wanted to do, the four dissenters was to hear the case. they thought that the motion should be heard. not necessarily what they would decide. but, one of the things chief justice roberts who wrote the opinion made it clear was that this would -- one of the reasons they weren't intervening is because they took judge merchan at his word, always a dangerous thing that there would be, you know, he would be unc

their theory is because part of merchan's -- the post trial merchan that he denied a big part has toty under supreme court precedent, immunity is something that should be fully litigated, including on appeal before anything additional happens in the trial court. sentencing would be a big additional step. their argument to the appellate courts in necessary and if necessary to the federal courts is trump should be allowed to fully appeal the immunity aspects of judgment merchan's ruling before he gets to do anything else in the case including impose sentence. >> dana: do you think they'll be successful? >> i would say -- i give them about a 60/40 shot. i give them better odds, dana, if it were not for the fact that i think insidiously what merchan has done is made his ruling late friday afternoon and wants to sentence trump first thing friday morning. so as a practical matter he has given them a very small window of time to find a court that would intervene. >> dana: i'm sure president trump will get a question about that at 11:00. on the trump legal side of things they want to block s

>> as you said, i was at every day of the trial, i think judge merchan juan merchan has been the utmostfessional. and by the way, i've never met him previously. the only time i saw him in action was in this particular trial. and in terms of bending over backwards, to be fair to president elect trump, he could have judge merchan very well could have proceeded with sentencing on july 11th. yes, there was the supreme court immunity decision. and yes, it was expected that the defense would vehemently request an opportunity to be heard on that. but judge marchand could have went to sentencing, and it wouldn't have really been even the supreme court issue at that time, because because he was in president elect and he could have hit him, sentenced him with that split sentence. but what judge marchand did every step of the way, starting with adjourning it to september, and then in the heat of the election, saying, you know what, i'm not going to do this until after the election. all of that was bending over backwards in deference to the defendant. obviously. uh, defendant trump gives judge merc

in your new article, you describe merchan as someone who isn't obeying in advance. what do you mean by that? >> it would have been very easy for judge merchan to hold sentencing in advance until donald trump finishes his four years in office. the district attorney's office certainly gave him the latitude to take that approach. but instead, he's insisted upon going ahead with sentencing. alex, i think that we'll likely see from trump's team, an effort to get that sentencing put off. they may file in both state courts and try to get the united states supreme court to weigh in, but what judge merchan sees, and it's written into his order, is the importance of finality here. in legal terms, finality means that once donald trump is sentenced and the appellate process is complete, that conviction will stand for all time. and trump has suggested it's important to him to have that conviction, that blemish on his character removed. so by setting the sentencing process in motion, merchan is doing the best he can to make sure that conviction will hold up forever. >> can i ask

. >> the breaking news this hour, donald trump's hush money conviction upheld by judge juan merchan. >> the president elect now ordered to appear for sentencing just ten days before he takes the oath of office for a second term. our chief legal affairs correspondent, paula reid, is on the story for us. paula, take us through this ruling and what it means for the president elect. >> wolf, after this opinion, president-elect trump is still a convicted felon. but there is some good news here, as the judge is signaling that he does not intend to impose penalties against trump after being convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records last year. the judge did have the option to impose a jail sentence, but in a sort of unusual move, he's previewing what he will do next friday, saying that is not something he is going to do. he says, quote, it seems improper at this juncture. it seems proper at this juncture to make known the court's inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration. so he's imposing a sentence of what he describes as unconditional discharge, because that, he s

he also called merchan a radical partisan. well, joining me now, my friend elie honig, cnn senior legal analyst and former assistant u.s. attorney for the south and s.d.n.y, was called to the sovereign district, as you often refer to it. ali, the cny instead. all right, ali, you and i predicted the idea there wasn't going to be much of a penalty, if any at all. but there's no jail time, no community service, no fines as we know it now. nothing. what do you think of this decision given you didn't think the case should have been brought in the first place? >> well, it's an unsatisfying outcome, i think, for certainly the district attorney, but i think it points up ultimately that this was a case of prosecutorial overreach. i don't think there's any real way around that at this point. i think alvin bragg would defend this case by saying he looked carefully at the facts and the law, and he believed it was necessary to impose accountability. and i should say, as i always do, alvin and i were former colleagues at the aforementioned

let's deal with judge merchan's sort of fight continuing with trump.urprisingly in the least bit, he's been on a bit of a social media tirade. [laughter] i think the most recent one, there's never been a president who was so evilly and illegally treated as i. i'll start with you, katie. is this a problem just ten days before the inauguration, or is this really going to be sort of one and done, and they're going to get to to an appeal and it sort of goes away? >> i would say it underscores what president trump has been talking about all along. you know, when people -- when he first came out of these prosecutions, that really propelled him, in my view, back to the forefront of the political landscape. because people realized it was just another lie that the left had been telling us. they were saying, oh, donald trump's going to weaponize against his enemies, and they spent the last three years doing that to him. they said joe biden was -- the. [inaudible] and he clearly wasn't -- competent, and he clearly wasn't. so the more they continue these false nar

and judge merchan, for the first time, is really putting that aside and saying no, i reject that .offense. it was premeditated, and continuous deception by the leader of the free world. that is this offense. and to vacate that, to get rid of that would constitute a completely disproportionate result. it would create immeasurable damage to the citizens meineke confidence in the rule of law. here's the judge saying this was serious. and you attacking all the witnesses, you saying michael cullen, that he perjured himself, i don't agree with that. this evidence did support this guilty verdict. and then what i thought was one of the more interesting pieces, he said that in this motion, you, defendant trump, are asking me to weigh in on your character, as to whether or not to dismiss this case. and i have avoided doing that, even though you have attacked mine in the court, and the jury, and everything about this process. i have not done that. but now you are asking me to weigh in on your character, so i'm going to do it. and it is very restrained, but he is quite clear, he talks about tr

es una sentencia que el juez juan merchÁn reconociÓ es extraordinaria y no le habÍa ocurrido.e. un ciudadano comÚn. vamos a oÍr exactamente lo que dijo juan merchÁn. >> has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgement of conviction without encouraging upon the highest office in the land is an unconditional discharge. >> nuestra compaÑera karla amezola estaba dentro de la corte. dice que la actitud y la. el rostro que se le veÍa al juez merchÁn era un rostro de resignaciÓn, consciente de que no podÍa administrarle a donald trump la misma justicia que le habrÍa administrado a cualquier otro ciudadano comÚn. pero antes de la sentencia hablÓ el presidente electo, donald trump. reiterÓ que considera esto una cacerÍa de brujas, una persecuciÓn judicial en su contra y sus abogados tambiÉn. y el presidente electo, donald trump han dicho que piensan apelar esta decisiÓn porque no quieren que el nombre de donald trump quede con esa etiqueta Única en la historia de criminal convicto. despuÉs de la sentencia, donald trump fue bastante mÁs enÉrgico en su medio

first, on judge merchan. your thoughts?cision was sort of old and trying to uphold the rule of law. it is important for people to understand he had very limited options. it was basically trying everything now or putting everything off for four years because the one thing that is true is there is this temporary presidential immunity while someone is president. so, the idea in many ways of having this linger or be over the presidents head for four years, you would think in some ways it is something that a president would not want, to be like him okay, i can appeal it. you know, i think that judge merchan did the right thing, but i think what is going on in the political realm, i think they do not want a bad day between now and the 20th, which is friday, that would be a sentencing of the president- elect, and that way his lawyers have heard it, but the judge has heard as to the judge's view of what happened and what he did, that the judge has said some of that in his written decision, but there would be another day of really,

yesterday judge juan merchan on turn down the bed to delay the proceedings.yers challenge the decision, "he errored in presidential amenity to president trump on this ground and further erred by issuing incredibly disruptive order requiring president trump to appear for criminal sentencing on seven days notice on januaryx presidential transition." the last hour the president blasted the case. >> we have a judge in new york who is a crooked judge. i am under a gag order. i can't talk about aspects of the case that are the most vital aspects. i wonder, do you know i'm president-elect of united states of america. i am a very successful president. d.a. alvin bragg says judge merchan was correct planning conviction was not related to trump's official acts as president, bet that paying off stormy daniels was all a private matter. the prosecutor saying, contrary to the defendants claim, he invoked presidential amenity does not entitle him to automatic stay of further trial proceedings pending appeal." judge merchan has indicated he will sentenced trump to unconditio