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Trump sentenced in New York hush-money case days before taking office
Donald Trump has become the first former United States president ever sentenced for a crime.
But the US president-elect avoided penalties for his conviction for falsifying business documents in relation to hush-money payments made to an adult film actress.
Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an “unconditional discharge” on Friday, a day after the US Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Trump’s legal team to delay the sentencing, which took place before the Republican leader’s inauguration on January 20.
The decision means that Trump’s conviction will appear on his permanent record, but he does not face imprisonment, a fine or probation — leaving him unencumbered to enter the White House.
Trump, who previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, was found guilty in late May, on 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels, among other things.
The US president-elect has denied any wrongdoing and said he plans to appeal his conviction.
Appearing virtually at Friday’s sentencing hearing, Trump said his criminal trial and conviction had “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.
“It’s been a political witch-hunt,” Trump said before the judge issued his decision. “It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election and obviously that didn’t work.”
Prosecutors in the New York case had argued that the hush-money payments aimed to conceal allegations of a sexual relationship with Daniels that could have been politically damaging.
The payments were made ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, which saw Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the White House.
Trump, who pleaded not guilty in the case, has denied any sexual relationship took place.
Reporting from Washington, DC, on Friday morning, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said prosecutors had argued “it was important that Donald Trump was held responsible”.
“The judge himself said this was a unique and difficult case, but in the end, he decided that the sentence had to be an unconditional discharge,” Fisher said.
Under New York’s penal code, a court can sentence a defendant to an unconditional discharge if it “is of the opinion that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant’s release”.
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers had asked the Supreme Court to delay the sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government”.
They argued that a ruling last year by the top court grants presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution, and that means some of the evidence should not have been presented in the case
But a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court said in a decision late on Thursday that the “alleged evidentiary violations” at Trump’s state-court trial “can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal”.
They also said “the burden that sentencing will impose” on Trump’s responsibilities “is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing”.
Now that he has been sentenced, Trump is free to pursue the appeal, a process that could take years and play out while he is serving his second four-year term as president.
“Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after his sentencing.
(Aljazeera)
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
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Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya for the next 24 hours commencing at 1200hrs today [08]
Accordingly
LEVEL II AMBER landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Ududumbara in the Kandy District, Wilgamuwa in the Matale District, and Nildandahinna and Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya District.
LEVEL I YELLOW landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Meegahakiwula, Welimada, Kandaketiya, Lunugala, Badulla, Passara, Uva Paranagama and Hali_Ela in the Badulla District, Ambanganga Korale in the Matale District, and Mathurata and Hanguranketha in the Nuwara Eliya District.
Greenland allies vow action if Trump moves to seize world’s largest island
Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
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