Trump slams ‘corrupt’ judge after he is ordered to appear for sentencing in hush-money case: Live updates
Justice Juan Merchan rejected president-elect’s push to dismiss verdict on grounds of presidential immunity, finding no legal impediment to proceeding
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has slammed Judge Juan Merchan on Truth Social after he required the president-elect to appear for sentencing in his hush-money case on January 10, just ten days before his inauguration.
“I never falsified business records,” Trump wrote on Saturday morning. “It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department, an attack on their political opponent, ME!”
A jury of 12 New Yorkers found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records after a six-week-long trial in May.
Merchan indicated Trump wouldn’t be jailed, but the extraordinary development puts the president-elect on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felonies.
Merchan indicated on Friday Trump wouldn’t be jailed at his sentencing, instead noting he’ll impose “a sentence of unconditional discharge.” This means no jail time, probation or fines will be imposed on the president-elect.
Following the order, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung issued a statement claiming that “the Constitution demands” that the case be “immediately dismissed.” He said the president-elect must be allowed to continue his presidential transition “unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the Witch Hunts.”
Trump jokes about fat coyotes needing weight-loss drugs in call with Starmer
Trump has two years to cause real chaos and harm and only these people will be able to stop him
Trump claims Dems are ‘giddy’ flags will be half-staff for his inauguration
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration: report
COMMENT: Never mind Badenoch and Farage – Starmer’s real task is dealing with Trump and Musk
One thing that Keir Starmer should not do, as he seeks to manage the relationship with the incoming president of the United States, is leak private details of his phone calls with him.
So it is unlikely that the prime minister was responsible for telling The Times that Donald Trump “veered off on a series of tangents” in their conversation on 18 December. The president-elect said that so many birds were being killed flying into wind turbines in the US that the coyotes were growing fat. If Starmer, or anyone acting on his behalf, did leak it, it could prove quite the misstep.
This is harmless stuff by Trump’s standards, reflecting his known antipathy to “windmills”, as he called them, in a public post on Truth Social yesterday. But the breach of confidence will make it harder for Starmer to engage with the unpredictable fireball coming his way.
Read more:
How Keir Starmer handles Donald Trump and Elon Musk is critical
It’s not just Starmer’s premiership at stake here. If the president-elect and his billionaire pal become a bigger threat than they already are, UK democracy may also be at their mercy, writes John Rentoul
What happens if the US bans TikTok?
With every passing day, the US government inches closer to doing something unprecedented: banning a social media app used by an estimated 170 million Americans each month.
But what would happen next?
Read more:
What happens if the US bans TikTok?
TikTok wouldn’t simply vanish off your smartphone – but in the long term, banning the Chinese video app could rip the heart out of American youth culture, writes Io Dodds
MSNBC panel erupts into laughter reading Trump weekend rant about being ‘evilly’ treated by courts
MSNBC panel members burst into laughter while reading President-elect Donald Trump’s most recent social media rant.
Trump posted a rant on Truth Social Saturday morning decrying his legal woes after Judge Juan Merchan ordered him to appear for sentencing in his hush-money case on January 10, just over one week before his inauguration.
“There has never been a President who was so evilly and illegally treated as I,” Trump wrote. “Corrupt Democrat judges and prosecutors have gone against a political opponent of a President, ME, at levels of injustice never seen before.”
Read more:
MSNBC panel laughs reading Trump weekend rant about being ‘evilly’ treated by courts
President-elect will be sentenced in his hush-money case on January 10
Trump claims Dems are ‘giddy’ flags will be half-staff for his inauguration
President-elect Donald Trump claimed that Democrats are “giddy” about flags being flown at half-staff in a sign of mourning and respect to honor the late Jimmy Carter during his inauguration.
President Joe Biden ordered flags be flown at half-staff to honor the late president, who died Sunday at age 100. Trump has tried to politicize the gesture, since the flags will still be lowered during his second inauguration on January 20.
“The Democrats are all ‘giddy’ about our magnificent American Flag potentially being at ‘half mast’ during my Inauguration,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday afternoon. “They think it’s so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don’t love our Country, they only think about themselves. Look at what they’ve done to our once GREAT America over the past four years - It’s a total mess!”
Read more:
Trump claims Dems are ‘giddy’ flags will be half-staff for his inauguration
‘They think it’s so great, and are so happy about it because, in actuality, they don’t love our Country, they only think about themselves,’ Trump complained
Michael J Fox cheered at White House as he steps forward to receive Medal of Freedom from Biden
Cheers rang out through the East Room of the White House on Saturday as actor and activist Michael J. Fox walked up to the stage to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden.
Fox is one of 19 people, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Bono, to be given the award on Saturday, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“You defend the values of America, even when they’re under attack,” Biden told the honorees. “Together, you leave an incredible mark on our country, with insight and influence that can be felt around the globe.”
Read on:
Michael J Fox cheered at White House as he receives Medal of Freedom from Biden
The nation’s highest civilian award honors individuals who ‘made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors’
ICYMI: Judge orders Trump to be sentenced on Jan. 10 in hush-money case
The judge overseeing the criminal case against Donald Trump in his home state of New York has ordered the president-elect to appear before him on January 10 to face a sentence after jury convicted him on 34 felony counts last year.
In a stunning, 18-page ruling released on Friday, Justice Juan Merchan said he would not sentence Trump to a term of incarceration but would instead impose “a sentence of unconditional discharge” — meaning a sentence of no jail time, probation or fines — as “the most viable solution” and permit Trump to continue to appeal the case.
The hearing is scheduled just 10 days before the president-elect is inaugurated.
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration: report
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $1 million to President-elect Trump’s inaugural committee, according to a report.
Cook’s contribution, first reported by Axios, marks the latest deluge of cash from billionaires into Trump’s inauguration January 20.
Just weeks before the reported donation, Cook dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Continue reading:
Apple CEO Tim Cook plans to donate $1 million to Trump’s inauguration: report
The Donald Trump-JD Vance inaugural fund is expected to raise a record-setting $150 million
Food stamps, environmental safeguards and denying Ozempic: The ways Republicans could pay for Trump’s tax cuts
Donald Trump and his Congressional allies could add requirements to welfare programs such as Medicaid, withhold prescription drugs from federal health care coverage, repeal environmental regulations and more in order to reduce federal spending and pay for his new round of tax cuts.
Trump is determined to cut taxes for Americans but doing so means the government will need to cut federal spending elsewhere, or risk raising the national debt by trillions of dollars.
Advisers to Trump, such as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, are focused on dramatically reducing federal spending by as much as $2 trillion. They have been given positions heading the advisory committee, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to suggest funding reductions.
Read more:
Food stamps and denying Ozempic: The ways Republicans could pay for Trump’s tax cuts
Incoming administration is expected to cut federal spending to federal programs they don’t prioritize like environmental regulations
Letters to the Editor: It is no surprise that Trump falsely blamed the New Orleans attack on ‘migrants’
The Independent’s readers submitted letters to the editor discussing their thoughts on Donald Trump’s reaction to the deadly attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day.
Read here:
It’s no surprise that Trump falsely blamed the New Orleans attack on ‘migrants’
Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk
Inauguration Day is nearly here. These are the promises Trump made for ‘Day One’ in office
President-elect Donald Trump has a very long to-do list when he steps into the Oval Office later this month.
So far, he’s already promised to take action on 59 different issues “on Day One,” according to an Axios analysis of pledges made on the campaign trail.
The key MAGA issues he promised to address are closing the border, pardoning the January 6 Capitol riot prisoners, and rolling back protections for transgender students.
Continue reading:
Inauguration Day is nearly here. These are the promises Trump made for ‘Day One’
Trump promised to take action on 59 different issues ‘on day one,’ according to analysis of pledges made on the campaign trail
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