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LAST UPDATE | 10 Jan
US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump was formally sentenced today in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment.
The outcome cements Trump’s conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.
Trump’s sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies, put on trial for almost two months and convicted on every count.
Yet, the legal detour — and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations — did not hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.
Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison.
Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.
Judge Merchan said that as when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president “is a factor that overrides all others”.
“Despite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict,” Judge Merchan said.
Trump, briefly addressing the court as he appeared virtually from his Florida home, said his criminal trial and conviction has “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.
The Republican former president, appearing on a video feed 10 days before he is inaugurated, again pilloried the case, the only one of his four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.
“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,” Trump said.
He called the case “a weaponisation of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.”
With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Judge Merchan had indicated he planned a no-penalty sentence called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors did not oppose it.
Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they criticised Trump’s attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.
“The once and future president of the United States has engaged in a co-ordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.
Rather than show remorse, Trump has “bred disdain” for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, “has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm’s way”.
As he appeared from his Florida home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he has tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.
“Legally, this case should not have been brought,” Blanche earlier said.
Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency
Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, “Trump is guilty”.
The other held one that said, “Stop partisan conspiracy” and “Stop political witchhunt”.
The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business’s records to veil a $130,000 (€127,000) payoff to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.
She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier.
He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.
“I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,” the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.
Bragg’s office said in a court filing on Monday that Trump committed “serious offences that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York’s financial marketplace.”
While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise.
Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off — through Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen — as part of a wider effort to keep voters from hearing about Trump’s alleged extramarital escapades.
Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to quash the stories to protect his family, not his campaign.
And while prosecutors said Cohen’s reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump said that is simply what they were.
“There was nothing else it could have been called,” he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding: “I was hiding nothing.”
Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed.
The Trump lawyers have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from a Supreme Court decision that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity.
Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.
On one hand, Trump’s defence argued that immunity should have kept jurors from hearing some evidence, such as testimony about some of his conversations with then-White House communications director Hope Hicks.
And after Trump won this past November’s election, his lawyers argued that the case had to be scrapped to avoid impinging on his upcoming presidency and his transition to the Oval Office.
Judge Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he set Friday’s date, citing a need for “finality”.
He wrote that he strove to balance Trump’s need to govern, the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the public’s expectation that “no one is above the law”.
Trump’s lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished on Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.
Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.
After Trump’s election, special counsel Jack Smith closed the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
A state-level Georgia election interference case is locked in uncertainty after prosecutor Fani Willis was removed from it.
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It’s a travesty of justice. The world would be a better place with him behind bars and not in the White House.
@Vincent Alexander: Today, in America, justice is no longer blind or equal. Any normal citizens would have been jailed for electoral fraud…. We live in a messed up world that’s getting messier by the day.
@Vincent Alexander: no one was ever going to jail for that
@Vincent Alexander: Just another far-left echo chamber. MAGA
@Kieran Conroy: Keep using that phrase Kieran, it definitely conceals the fact you have nothing else in your locker.
@Setanta O’Toole: I’m sick of wokism, the ‘take offence at everything’ mob. Sick of the 146 gender mob. Sick of ‘one world open borders’ mob. Sick of ‘identify as anything you like’ mob. Enough. The good guys are winning all across Europe as well as the U.S. The sensible guys are back in charge. Normal service shall be resumed.
@Kieran Conroy: Well done, another paragraph with loads of buzzwords but ultimately saying nothing. Hilarious for a man who likes to pontificate about echo chambers, that can’t even see the walls of the one he is trapped in. You will still hear about ‘wokism’ Kieran. Every single day. It’s how they distract gullible morons and make them feel smart, while they feather their own nests and those of their billionaire donors.
@Vincent Alexander: money talking
@Setanta O’Toole: everything he said, is spot on
@Peter Igloo: yep, spot on. Definitely not terminally online culture war bollocks that has little or no pertinence to real life.
@Setanta O’Toole: so, it’s definitely not what you are engaging in?
@Peter Igloo: Spot on.
@Dave G Doe: Quite the opposite actually
@Vincent Alexander: hardly a travesty , maybe for a drama queen but it doesn’t change your day
@Kieran Conroy: Typical Trump supporters, anything else is far left, dear god.
@Pork Hunt: Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has had a detrimental effect on energy prices, migration and food production. Trump’s assessment of Putin at the time was that he was a genius and savvy. Trump’s sabre rattling about Greenland, Canada and tariffs are not very reassuring for a bright tomorrow.
@Vincent Alexander: like Joe Biden as well for being complicit it murdering 50000 Palestinians , including the 15000 children
@James T.Kirk: ‘ANTIFA’. Violent extreme-LEFT. Glad to help.
@Vincent Alexander: Both sides have blood on their hands. On the 7th Oct Hamas showed little regards for Israelis or Palestinians. The Hamas covenant calls for the total annihilation of Israel. It’s the curse of ultranationalism driving both sides.
@Kieran Conroy: none of the ‘isms’ or mobs you referred to have anything to do with the fact that Trump was (rightly) found guilty of a federal crime and should be punished as anyone else should be. The fact that he WASN’T EVEN fined (and how tight the Supreme Court decision today was) shows how corrupt the US system is.
@Vincent Alexander: how so?
@Vincent Alexander: meh
@ron don: I think you’ve given the game away.
@Kieran Conroy: oh my, you seem offended by a lot of things there
@Dave G Doe: thanks Daveo.
Today’s a good day. When a political party leverages the justice system and politically aligned judges in order to impede an opposition candidate this is the result – a waste of time and money.
@Christopher Ryan: It’s more a case of people – even powerful people – being accountable for their actions before the law. Unfortunately, Trump’s position prevented him from being sentenced properly.
It’s not the Democrats’ fault that Trump is a sleazeball.
@Christopher Ryan: So he didn’t falsify business records? The Jury were wrong to convict him? Is that what you’re saying?
@Christopher Ryan: First US president in history to enter White House as a convicted felon.
@Christopher Ryan: leveraging the justice system = the consequences of his own actions.
@Brendan O’Brien: Did Clinton smoke that cigar? Oh wait, he’s a Democrat so all is good…
@John Doe: It’s brilliant! The man walks on water! Far-left tearing their hair out for 5 more yrs. Minimum. Probably closer to 10. I love it! MAGA
@Brendan O’Brien: Democrats are the same as the shinners…..pedos
@K O: FG senators more pervy now tho
@Tricia G28: no he’s saying that all the jurors were democrats as well.
@Christopher Ryan: oh you mean like the overturning of Roe v Wade?
@Christopher Ryan: grow up you uninformed tool.
@John Doe: what a legend . We printing money here now that he back in the big chair .
@Kieran Conroy: smoking a cigar is not a crime (unless you’re in a no smoking area) – nothing to do with your political affiliation.
@Brendan O’Brien: It’s not the democrats fault that he’s a sleazeball but it is their fault that he won the 2016 and 2024 elections
He should be in Rykers. One rule for the rich, another for the rest of us.
@Anthony Curran: counts.
During the trial, prosecutors said Mr. Trump criminally concealed payments to Ms. Daniels around the 2016 campaign with an intent to violate election laws.
The payments were designed to keep Ms. Daniels quiet about an alleged sexual encounter about a decade earlier in Lake Tahoe. Mr. Trump says the encounter did not happen.
Prosecutors said Mr. Trump paid Ms. Daniels through Michael Cohen and concealed reimbursements to the lawyer in 2017 by misidentifying checks.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers said he was busy running the country and thought he was paying Mr. Cohen for legal services, so his team logged the checks in that manner. They also accused the prosecution of using novel legal theories to mount a political hit job against Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign.
…..The multi-week trial kept Mr. Trump trapped in a dingy courtroom in lower Manhattan for weeks while the GOP primary unfolded. However, Mr. Trump turned the courthouse hallway into his personal campaign stage and easily won the Republican Party presidential nomination before defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
“I wish you godspeed as you assume a second term in office,” Judge Merchan said.
@thomas molloy: Why do you think Trump should not have been prosecuted for his crimes?
@thomas molloy: Great to have you to copy and paste articles from other websites here. Sterling job.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: And now the MSM are calling her an actress not a stripper. It has become Comedy, New Movie maybe “Bookkeeper V Porn Stripper”She can make mor money.
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Victim of extortion regarding ALLEGED event. Who’s the criminal.
@thomas molloy: there were a lot of details about this case that were kept hidden from the public – particularly thejournal.ie readers.
The gagging order on Trump was to stop him from talking about the presiding Judge Merchan’s daughter, Loren.
Loren Merchan had worked for Kamala Harris & Joe Biden.
She was/is working for an entity, ‘Authentic Campaigns’, that had raised almost $100m for Democrat party candidates.
Trump was only allowed call one defence witness.
He could’ve called the FEC (Federal Election Commission) chairman who would’ve testified that what Trump did was not a violation of FEC rules. Even if it was the appropriate punishment would’ve been a fine as it was a misdemeanour – as it was when Hilary Clinton more egregiously violated the rules during the 2016 campaign.
Instead he went with Michael Cohen’s former lawyer who testified that Michael Cohen told him that he was the one who made the payment to Stormy Daniels, Cohen didn’t believe Stormy Daniels story & that Trump didn’t know Cohen had made the payment to Daniels.
Daniels had previously made 2 statements that there was no encounter with Trump.
She has previously said that her lawyer, Michael Avenatti (who is serving 19yrs in prison for attempting to extort Nike) fabricated the story.
Avenatti has a history of that. Avenatti fabricated evidence at the time of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s SJC public hearings by claiming he had a client that was r@ped by Kavanaugh. The woman subsequently claimed Avenatti fabricated the r@pe allegation.
Stormy Daniels testimony was designed to substantiate an insanity plea if she is charged with perjury.
She’ll say I told you in the witness stand that I can see demons & I know from looking at people’s faces if they are possessed by demons & which type of demon. I also told you, while in the witness stand, that I drove a demon out of my possessed husband.
Now you want to accuse me of perjury when I was openly telling everyone about demons & demonic possession? Good luck with that.
The ‘crime’ that Trump is accused of is a misdemeanour. The statute of limitations for that misdemeanour has long past.
What raises it to the category of ‘felony’ is if the payments were made in the furtherance of another crime.
However, Trump was never charged with another crime, no evidence was ever presented of another crime, the jury didn’t have to agree with each other what ‘the other crime’ was & they just had to find Trump guilty.
The problem with sources like ‘thejournal.ie’ is they don’t give you the full story. They have an agenda & they know their readers have a bias.
Then ‘thejournal.ie’ readers are then confounded when the American public vote for Trump.
The reason the American public voted for Trump is that enough of them have researched this case (& the other cases) in far greater detail than the vast majority of ‘thejournal.ie’ readers & they know significantly more about the subject than you do.
If you’re getting your US/Trump news from Irish media you don’t know the US or Trump.
@Raymond Gilbourne: how do you manage to get such a lengthy, rambling post past the journal. Isn’t there a character limit?
@YAwgY5Y8: Only if you post from the app
@YAwgY5Y8: yep, inadvertently managed to do it through the App. But it’s not ‘rambling’. It’s factual. There was a lot of very good coverage of this case. I’m not talking about 2min segments on RTE or TV3. There was an American lawyer on-line that was reading through the daily court transcripts. That takes hours of critical analysis as opposed to 2mins of bias confirmation on RTE or Newstalk or Virgin Media.
There is a reason Trump was re-elected & it isn’t because the American people are r@cist or stupid etc.
Trump was re-elected because more US citizens are better informed on the US economy, US politics, US crime etc than your typical consumer of Irish media.
In this particular case – ie the ‘Hush money’ case – Judge Merchan should’ve recused himself. He was very obviously & overtly conflicted – it wasn’t a marginal call. He should not have presided over the case. The fact that he did, plus the obvious bias he showed throughout the proceedings means any reasonable appellate court will overturn the verdict.
Btw, I’m not a Maga-rat or whatever.
I think Trump has very legitimate questions to answer over the killing of Qasem Soleimani – ie the timing, the circumstances, the location etc. But because it was something the Military Industrial Complex wanted no-one questions it.
I suggest you look into that & when you have done a bit of research & you have worked out why was Soleimani in Baghdad tell me was the assassination justified.
@Raymond Gilbourne: Don’t care either way about the case as haven’t been following it.
But when you say that Trump supporters voted for him because they have an in-depth knowledge about the case then I need to question what else you wrote. Trump supporters don’t care what he does … Or at least historically they haven’t, the next 4 years will test them when it’s actually costing them money and they are going backwards.
It is baffling that people are on here celebrating a convicted felon.
@Sun Rise: it’s not really. Theres always a cohort of people desperate for some kind, any kind, of attention lol
@Sun Rise: You’ll never meet a sound person that’s fell down the rabbit hole.
@Sun Rise: baffled indeed.
Great News well done
Mister Trump
@liam mc meel: onwards now to threatening Panama, greenland and have Musk promoting the neo nazi AFD and Truss’s vision for the uk. What’s not to like (if you’re a billionaires’ lackey)
@Alan: Don’t forget, as per Musk and his AfD buddy, Hitler was a Socialist….
How DUMB do they think people are?
@Tricia G28: so Hitler was left-wing? Dear god you can’t honestly be a real Human.
@Tricia G28: sorry if you’re being ironic. It’s increasingly hard to tell on here.
@Cob 79: She was attributing that view to Musk and his AfD buddy.
@Cob 79: Come on man, I said “as per”
It’s clearly not my opinion.
@liam mc meel: you are just another sheep following your orange shepard
@liam mc meel: Really?
Excellent, let Pat Kenny’s meltdown continue lol
@Peter Igloo: easy to see you are genuinely interested in politics lol. Is there any other presenter youd like to see melting down? Marty Morrissey, maybe Gary lineker?
@Alan: ya can’t bate a good lefty meltdown lol
@Peter Igloo: not for want of trying on your part i’d say, Peter.
@Peter Igloo: ……and the anti Trump people he lines up to echo interview.
@thomas molloy: For a troll that spends his day bemoaning MSM .. you sure spend en3ough time consuming it..
Those people that stood up to trump,must be very worried now. I’m sure he has an enemy list.
@Paddy Ryan: Hans Litten comes to mind.
@Tricia G28: had to Google, fascinating read. Trump very akin to AH
This makes me think of the McCarthy hearings. I’m concerned that simply being perceived as an enemy of Trump could put someone on a list of those who need to be investigated. I’m also curious about what will happen in four years when he has to leave the White House. Will he try to change the term limits or pass the presidency to his chosen successor? The next few years are going to be interesting to watch, but I worry for those who dared to say no to Trump, while those who investigated him (rightly or wrongly) might want to change their name and move to a new country, in particular, this judge. That’s just my opinion.
@Peter Finnigan: absolutely, Trump is capable of anything, scary times ahead. I heard an American commentating about Trump and said America under Trump is like a trailor park with nuclear weapons. How true.
@Peter Finnigan: Kash Patel has stated that’s EXACTLY what the plan is.
There is no ambiguity here. The intention is to use investigations etc. to cripple dissent. Anyone perceived to be an enemy is in the firing line. You can bet Jack Smith is on that list. He’s going to populate every supposed independent State apparatus with Loyalists. They were prepared in 2016. They’re prepared now.
They’ve admitted they’re going after Liz Cheney. They’ll go after Mitt Romeny. And it won’t just be them, it’ll be their families too.
None of this is new. They’ve been talking about it for years. And ti’s what every authoritarian Govt does.
@Paddy Ryan: Really want a scary read?
People often forget that Hitler and the Nazis were democratically elected.
@Paddy Ryan: you shouldn’t listen the the woke rubbish on Sky News
@Peter Finnigan: another comparison to Hitler? The lies the democrats and media fed you all is it? If he was indeed a hitler like figure, would Obama be sitting beside him and having a laugh with him in a church? Cop on to yourself
@Mick O’K: the Greenland talk seemed a bit Hitlery, yknow, the whole refusing to rule out a military takeover of another country and all that.
@Setanta O’Toole: bit of a hot take, yknow
@Peter Igloo: You’d want to be sparing with the hot takes yourself, Pete. Your gaff might melt.
@Tricia G28: indeed. Trump states that he wants control over Greenland, Canada etc and people think that this is acceptable behaviour, it beggers belief. It shows what is truly on his mind. A good old fashioned land grab. Lebensarum (living space) as AH used to call it. History about to repeat itself?
@Mick O’K: Obama felt sorry for the Felon, no one else wanted to speak to him.
@Mick O’K: you have your opinion on him and I have mine.
@Mick O’K: I should have also said that my opinion of him is based on reading articles about him on right and left-leaning news sites as well as reading some of the multiple books about him from his friends and enemies alike. I don’t just take the version presented in front of me by any one media, influencer or version of events, I research and make my mind up. In trumps case, I think he was the worst president they ever had and further to that think he and the current crop of sickovants in the GOP will lead America into the hell hole of political hit jobs and brinkmanship over other countries and bullying everyone that disagrees, I think the America he claims to love will be lucky to survive what they will do to it. Also, I truly would love to be wrong but let’s see what happens.
@Peter Finnigan: again. Barack Obama shock his hand (as did Biden when Trump won) sat beside him in church, shared a joke or two with him. All the while Obama completely ignored Kamala Harris.
@Paddy Ryan: “Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Democrat Party”? Ring any bells?
The worst thing about his reelection is the clogging of newsfeeds for 4 years.
@ecrowley ecrowley: Is the sex worker a member of the Democratic Party. The media blackout regarding the case against her is deafening.
@ecrowley ecrowley: yeah, and he does so much stupid and reprehensible stuff that it becomes tedious and people stop noticing.
@thomas molloy:
1) How does any possible political affiliation of any sex worker alter what Trump did?
2) Why are your morals so poor, that you believe a person should be immune from law, or basic morals, because of their supposed political or religious affiliation?
@ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere: Not approving of low standards in moral conduct but selective indignation by media needs to be called out. The same media gave Clinton sympathy
The man is an embarrassment. Imagine that yoke being your president. Him and his little cult of tubby neck beards will crumble the country
It’s a joke that he can commit crimes and just walk away,without any form of punishment because he’s going to be the president.he’s already lowered the standard of the American president.giving him a fine wouldn’t of lowered it anymore.but his supporters would’ve been the people who paid it so would it make a difference….
@Bru: And now the Supreme Court have ruled that the President has immunity for “official” actions, the gloves are off.
Corrupt country
In separate news, the statue of liberty has spontaneously combusted.
@Padraic O’ Sullivan: At least there’s someone on here with a sense of humour…….
I wonder with all the politicians that the Island of Ireland including the North have convictions behind them that they don’t mention to anyone?
@Tommy: it’s easy to look it up
NO Surprise…Gutless America!!!
Billionaire elite evades prison time for financial crime. So refreshing. Definitely not business as usual. Keep draining that swamp Emperor Trump.
@Dave G Doe: wOuLd yOu sAy tHe sAmE aBoUt hUnTeR bIdEn!!??
Brown envelope for the judge or life was threatened
@JP McCartney: The judge had zero choice with the sentencing. Not because they were paid off or threatened, but because it’s DOJ policy. He was never getting prison or even a fine after he won the election.
@Tricia G28: DoJ policy – never tested in any court – doesn’t apply to state law, as this was not a DoJ prosecution.
It is generally supposed that the good judge did not want to give the (corrupt) US Supreme Court an excuse to prevent of overturn the sentencing.
Even with the judge stating that there would be no prison term, or even a fine, 4 of the 6 Republicans on the SC voted to throw out the case yesterday, with only Amy Coney Barrett and Roberts siding with the rule of law.
Will be overturned on appeal this political witch hunt is far from over.
@Trump24: Who’s he going to appeal to? He has the dubious distinction of being the first convicted felon to take up residence in the White House!
@Trump24: On what grounds has Trump to appeal.
He has already appealed, and appealed, every step – both to state and federal courts – including clIming immunity.
(Now, if claiming immunity is not an admission of guilt I don’t know what is.)
@Trump24: Trump24 aka Buster Lawless you sleep better if you just accept that he’s a convicted felon.
What a joke one law for the rich & another law for the poor Americans are all thick and then they try bring law & order elsewhere
Is trump as a convicted criminal allowed into Ireland
@pat malone: I’d imagine so. It’s white collar crime, so most Western governments wouldn’t raise any objections and many citizens of the Western World would turn a blind eye to it as well.
@pat malone: Trump the person might be statute barred, but Trump the head of state probably not.
But that would be a joke to witness.
Trump is a criminal
Good ole Americee. Best justice money can buy
It’s a travesty of injustice. No, wait a credit to the justice system. No, hang on, its… My brain is no longer able to fact check. But who cares, right?!?
I suspect he’ll just pardon himself when he enters office on January 20th and remove the felony label from his name, so this trial was pretty much just a waste of taxpayer money. The other legal case that he was involved around inflating the value of the properties that he owned in order to get more generous loans from banks was never going to go anywhere either because every single real estate investor and businessman in New York City and across America have done this at least once. Trump repaid the loans in full with interest and the financial institutions didn’t suffer any loss. From a legal standpoint, the only time that Trump committed a clear impeachable offence was when he banned bump stocks by circumventing Congress to get the ATF to change the definition of “assault weapon.”
@Frank O’Hara: Inflating the price to get better loans, deflating them to pay less taxes. And it was a civil case. He can neither pardon himself or think he’ll win on appeal, the evidence is too strong.
The E. Jean Carroll case was a civil case and the jury found against him. He can’t pardon that either.
He ran out the clock on the other three criminal cases, as he intended.
There is zero Constitutional guarantee he even can pardon himself of Federal convictions. It’s never been tested in the Supreme Court. If he were to try it, it would be appealed and again, no guarantee the Supreme Court would support his attempts. Though 4 of them definitely would. Barrett and Roberts possibly wouldn’t.
Not that it will matter.
@Tricia G28: it wasn’t a civil case, it was a criminal case, he’s a convicted felon for this case, just no jail time, it was A CRIMINAL case, look it up
@ben o hara: The case he was fined for inflating the worth of his properties was a Civil Case (the one Frank is referring to.)
@Frank O’Hara: a pardon doesn’t overturn the criminal felony conviction, it actually says he was guilty if he pardons himself or if anyone else pardons him, a pardon is for the guilty , as he’s not going to jail why would he pardon himself, there would be no benefit for him to do so
@Frank O’Hara: There are so many cases against Trump that it is hard to keep track of them.
There have been civil and criminal cases in New York, which he lost, and which are not subject to a presidential pardon.
There is the classified documents case in Florida, where he had a corrupt judge on his side.
There is the DC case for election interference.
And there is the Georgia State batch of cases, including RICO.
There may be others I have forgotten about.
@Tricia G28: Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution states: “The President shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” The term “Offences against the United States” could be interpreted broadly to encompass all federal violations, including civil liabilities arising from actions classified as “civil felonies” (e.g. fraud with Federal implications). Trump could easily argue that this language is not limited to criminal offences, as the Constitution doesn’t explicitly exclude civil cases. You’re absolutely right that this is certainly uncharted waters but there is definitely room for Trump to potentially attempt to pardon himself for civil cases within the realm of the Constitution. Time will tell.
@Frank O’Hara: POTUS can’t pardon a state conviction. That’s for the governor.
@ben o hara: Very true Ben, I was only putting it out as a hypothetical. I couldn’t really care less whether Trump pardons himself or not, that’s his decision to make for himself. You are certainly touching on the argument that Gerald Ford made back in 1974. Many people gave out to him for pardoning Nixon when he took office. However, Ford always carried around an extract from the Supreme Court decision Burdock v United States which stated that “pardon carries an imputation of guilt and that its acceptance carries a confession of guilt.” Now, people see that it was the right thing to do because it got Nixon to admit guilt without tearing the country apart with a long, divisive trial. So yes, I suppose if Trump did pardon himself he would be accepting guilty on his part.
@Frank O’Hara: The point remains, no President has ever tried to pardon themselves so it’s untested constitutionally.
@Frank O’Hara: “Offences against the United States”. What do you think that means? It doesn’t include civil cases, you only have to look at the name of the cases to understand that.
The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump – No possible pardon
United States of America v. Donald J. Trump, Waltine Nauta, and Carlos De Oliveir – potentially pardon
United States of America v. Donald J. Trump – potentially pardon
The State of Georgia v. Donald J. Trump, et al – No possible pardon
New York v. Trump – No possible pardon
E. Jean Carroll v. Donald J. Trump – No possible pardon.
Do you understand now?
@Tricia G28: You are clearly not listening. The phrase “Offences against the United States” is not explicitly limited to criminal cases. It could be argued that any violation of the law, whether categorised as civil or criminal, qualifies as an “offence.” In some cases, civil penalties function identically to criminal sanctions (e.g. massive fines, asset forfeitures, reputational damage). When civil liability is punitive in nature or results in severe consequences akin to criminal punishment, Trump could argue that the distinction between civil and criminal becomes meaningless. In such instances, denying pardon power would be arbitrary and undermine its purpose as a check on the judicial branch’s ability to impose punitive consequences (e.g. the damages paid from the E. Jean Carroll Case).
@Tricia G28: On the issue of the fact that certain felony convictions on Trump’s behalf stem from a state-level ruling, the Supremacy Clause (Article VI of the Constitution) establishes that Federal Law takes precedence over State Law. Trump could argue that his pardon power, as granted under Article II, includes the authority to nullify state-level judgments when they involve actions that also implicate Federal authority or national interests. Trump could assert that state civil judgments targeting his conduct are effectively punitive measures that bypass the immunity afforded to a sitting or former President. By framing civil penalties as quasi-criminal sanctions, he might argue that they should fall within the scope of pardonable offenses.
@Tricia G28: Allowing state civil liability for a former President’s federal actions would open the door for political harassment through lawsuits, undermining the constitutional balance of power. Trump could also claim that state-level civil lawsuits against him are politically motivated and violate his constitutional rights to equal protection under the law (14th Amendment). He might argue that allowing states to impose civil penalties on a President disproportionately subjects him to legal harassment and undermines Federal executive authority. By this reasoning, he could assert that the pardon power is a constitutional safeguard against politically motivated state actions, even in state-level civil cases.
@Tricia G28: Finally, Trump could claim that state civil judgments have far-reaching consequences that transcend state borders, particularly if the civil case involves business dealings or national political actions. He could argue that the Presidential pardon power must extend to these cases to ensure uniform application of justice and prevent interstate conflicts. If a state civil case involves a multi-state business (e.g. the Trump Organisation Case involving inflating the value of properties to get better loans), Trump could argue that the state’s judgment interferes with broader national economic or constitutional interests, warranting Federal intervention. We are in agreement that this is uncharted territory, but it’s wrong to say that Trump has zero avenues. Do you understand now?
@Frank O’Hara: ya done? You said a LOT of words that meant ABSOLUTELY nothing.
None of his Civil cases are against the United States of America. So he can’t “pardon” himself. You’re talking absolute nonsense. A lot of it, but still absolute nonsense.
@Frank O’Hara: Let me rephrase, a lot of “copy and paste” that says absolutely nothing.
@Tricia G28: It’s clear that you’re not interested in a good faith discussion. I’m providing you with another viewpoint on the idea of Donald Trump pardoning himself from a constitutional standpoint. All you seem to be interested in is resorting to ad hominem attacks. If you bothered to read what I wrote, you would understand that I am already aware of such information and I was simply stating a hypothetical avenue which Trump could go down if he wanted to with regard to the legality around state-level civil case pardoning. I have no interest in engaging with someone who doesn’t have any qualifications in law and tries to make out that they are the moral authority. I am trying to educate you as someone with a background in law, but your ignorance is getting in the way.
@Frank O’Hara: pardoning oneself means admitting guilt to the crime committed. Has the penny dropped yet.
I would say someone will take him out this year
@john o brien ….listening to Joe duffy he is take: Melania will be jealous.
Nothing more than a Storm(y) in a C cup.
Why hasn’t she been charged with blackmail, if she had to be paid off.
And, since when have we an expectation of politicians being honest at election time – much less after they get elected and go off on their own personal agenda or boy to our EU masters.
Surprise surprise
To all the Trump supporters in here, he’s not your saviour. He’s not even allowed in the country legally!
so funny to see all the trumps sheeple standing by the orange shepard
Waste of time and tax payers money he was always getting off
Ridiculous. One of the most deplorable human beings alive gets away with it again. Never ends.
“Equal justice for all” has now been exposed as propaganda for the dumbed down MAGA masses.
I said all along he was never going to jail!!!
@John Smith: everyone said he wasn’t going to jail for that one!
Again, it’s a politically motivated Storm(y) in a C cup
Plenty of dodgy dealings involving politicians are overlooked
God bless Enoch Burke.
Beautiful to see all the Trump haters so vexed, karma at work. Roll on Jan 20th.
If you are a believer, pray for America.. because that is all that is left.
He was always gonna get off now his in a position to parden himself sure wasn’t bill Clinton the worse he couldn’t keep his willy under lock n key ehen he was in the white house
Hope he gets a cigar off golden balls Clinton to celebrate.
Sure he can pardon himself , judge made a career saving decision there
@DC: actually he can’t, but never let facts get in the way!
He is like an octopus with 6 arms, so said some woman
Make Americaland great again
So, a lame duck president in the White House by the name of who ?
Enoch for President.
You can comment about a man in America but you’re not allowed comment about one of the greatest injustices ever in Ireland. Enock Burke is been jailed for sticking to reality and identifying a boy as a boy, and a girl as a girl. DT paid for a night with a prostitute and to keep her mouth shut about it, but that’s none of our business.
So a convicted felon will occupy the White House shortly. America is goosed
@Timothy Quigley: It’s only been goosed since that “convicted felon” ( soon to be appealed ) hasn’t occupied the White house.
One law for the crying lying orange thing and another for everyone else , The good ole US of a holes are akin to turkeys voting for christmass
@Robert Halvey: Ahhh, ha, ha, ha. This will be his 2nd term. He didn’t put a foot wrong the last time, why would you think he will this time? Would you rather creepy uncle Joe was still guiding the USA.
have your say