Trump asks judge to halt sentencing in his criminal hush money case
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(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday asked the judge overseeing his criminal hush money case in New York to halt his sentencing in the case, currently set for Friday.
Judge Juan Merchan, in a ruling last week, ordered Trump to appear for sentencing, either in person or virtually, on Jan. 10 following his May conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Trump was found guilty in May of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
In a court filing Monday, Trump’s attorneys argued Merchan “will lack authority to proceed with sentencing” because Trump is still appealing Merchan’s earlier ruling that the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision does not apply to the New York hush money case.
“Forcing a President to continue to defend a criminal case — potentially through trial or, even more dramatically here, through sentencing and judgment — while the appellate courts are still grappling with his claim of immunity would, in fact, force that President ‘to answer for his conduct in court’ before his claim of immunity is finally adjudicated,” defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.
Merchan initially scheduled the sentencing for July 11 before pushing it back in order to weigh if Trump’s conviction was impacted by the Supreme Court’s July ruling prohibiting the prosecution of a president for official acts undertaken while in office. Merchan subsequently ruled that Trump’s conviction related “entirely to unofficial conduct” and “poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the Executive Branch.”
Merchan last week indicated that he would sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge, effectively a blemish on Trump’s record, saying it struck a balance between the duties of president and the sanctity of the jury’s verdict.
Trump’s attorneys said it did not matter.
“It is of no moment that the Court has suggested an intention to impose a sentence of unconditional discharge. While it is indisputable that the fabricated charges in this meritless case should have never been brought, and at this point could not possibly justify a sentence more onerous than that, no sentence at all is appropriate based on numerous legal errors — including legal errors directly relating to Presidential immunity that President Trump will address in the forthcoming appeals,” the defense said.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment on Monday’s filing.
(MALIBU, Calif.) — A raging wildfire fanned by strong Santa Ana winds has spread to nearly 4,000 acres in Malibu, California, destroying homes and leaving more than 20,000 people under evacuation orders, including 98-year-old actor Dick Van Dyke and other celebrities in the oceanfront community.
The Franklin Fire, which erupted Monday night near the campus of Pepperdine University, was 7% contained on Wednesday morning as more than 1,500 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze in the rugged and hilly terrain of Malibu Canyon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Burning through thick dry vegetation, the fire has been fueled by Santa Ana winds that have topped 90 mph, officials said.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Van Dyke, who is set to turn 99 on Friday, said he and his wife, Arlene, were forced to evacuate as flames threatened their home in the secluded community of Serra Retreat in the hills of lower Malibu Canyon. He said all of his pets, except for his beloved cat Bobo, managed to escape.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo…,” Van Dyke wrote. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
In a follow-up Facebook message, Van Dyke posted a video of his cat, writing, “Hoping Bobo is ok.”
Other celebrities residing in the area were forced to flee the flames or stay on lockdown. Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cher also evacuated, according to her publicist.
“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill said in an Instagram post that he has also been affected by the fire.
“We’re in lockdown because of the Malibu fires,” the 73-year-old Hamill said in the post. “Please stay safe everyone! I’m not allowed to leave the house, which fits in perfectly with my elderly-recluse lifestyle.”
The Franklin Fire erupted just before 11 p.m. Pacific time on Monday and quickly grew amid the blustery Santa Anna winds, which blow southwest toward the Pacific Ocean.
At least seven homes have been destroyed by the fire and another eight have been damaged, according to Cal Fire.
Power to about 40,000 customers was shut off by Monday night, including 11,000 in Los Angeles County, as Southern California Edison worked to mitigate the impacts of the Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark more wildfires.
There have been no reports of deaths or injuries. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Pepperdine University canceled classes for the second straight day. When the fire erupted, officials put the campus on lockdown for about six hours before the order was lifted. As the fire grew on Tuesday, students were again ordered to seek shelter in the campus center and library, where students said they watched flames creep onto campus.
“Fire activity around Pepperdine’s Malibu campus has greatly diminished as the Franklin Fire has burned through most of the fuel immediately surrounding campus, but some flames are still visible in small pockets of campus,” the university said on its website.
Malibu resident Fred Robert described to ABC News seeing flames “coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch.”
Red Flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service signaling the high risk of fire danger remained in effect Wednesday in the Malibu area.
“Time is of the essence for us to grab hold of the fire and start getting containment,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Marrone said firefighters are tackling the blaze from the ground and air “as they struggle to contain this stubborn fire.”
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump and his allies unleashed a legal blitz this week to prevent the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his classified documents and election interference investigations, successfully convincing the federal judge who dismissed Trump’s documents case to issue an emergency injunction temporarily blocking the report’s release.
While Smith has released many of his findings already — through four indictments and a lengthy filing outlining the evidence against Trump — recent disclosures made by attorneys for Trump and his co-defendants suggest that the special counsel’s final report could contain previously undisclosed details that are potentially damaging to the president elect.
Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, who reviewed a draft version of the report over the weekend, argued in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland Monday that the report’s release would be a “partisan weapon” and “lawless political stunt, designed to politically harm” President-elect Trump and his allies.
According to Trump’s lawyers, a draft of the report included multiple “baseless attacks” on members of Trump’s incoming presidential administration that could “interfere with upcoming confirmation hearings.”
The letter did not provide any additional information about which, if any, of Trump’s nominees or appointees were mentioned in the report.
According to a court filing from Trump’s defense lawyers Monday, a draft version of the report asserts that Trump “engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort,” violated multiple federal laws, and served as the “head” of multiple criminal conspiracies.
Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 to charges of unlawfully retaining classified materials after leaving the White House, and, in a separate case, pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case this past July after deeming Smith’s appointment unconstitutional, leading Smith to appeal that decision.
Smith, who is now winding down both his cases against the president-elect due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president, has not provided any details about the contents of his report. Smith’s team has accused Trump’s attorneys of violating a confidentiality agreement by making portions of their findings public in their filings.
Special counsels are mandated by internal Justice Department regulations to prepare confidential reports at the conclusion of their investigations to summarize their findings, and the attorney general can determine whether to release the report publicly. Smith’s report includes two volumes, covering his investigation into Trump’s alleged retention of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump’s lawyers argued that the report’s release would disrupt the ongoing presidential transition process and “exacerbate stigma and public opprobrium surrounding the Chief Executive,” suggesting that the report — which is being prepared by a prosecutor independent from the president — contradicts the Biden administration’s vow to “facilitate an orderly and collegial transition process.”
“It’ll be a fake report, just like it was a fake investigation,” Trump said at a news conference Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump’s lawyers also suggested that the report included a “pathetically transparent tirade” about social media platform X’s effort to “protect civil liberties.”
ABC News previously reported that X — then known as Twitter — was held in contempt and fined $350,000 for failing to comply with a search warrant for records and data from former President Trump’s social media account. X’s owner, Elon Musk, is now one of Trump’s most vocal supporters and advisers, and spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect Trump.
Blanche and Bove — both of whom Trump has picked for top Justice Department posts in the incoming administration — have argued that the report’s release would only offer a single-sided view of the case and give “rise to a media storm of false and unfair criticism” that Trump would need to address during the transition period.
While Trump is no longer being prosecuted by Smith, his two former co-defendants in the classified documents case have argued they would be unable to have a fair trial if the findings are released publicly. Lawyers for Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira have claimed that the report would reveal sensitive grand jury material — such as communications obtained via a subpoena — and support the finding that “everyone Smith charged is guilty of the crimes charged.”
Describing Smith as a “rogue actor with a personal and political vendetta,” lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants argued in a filing that the report would irreparably bias the public by amplifying the government’s “narrative” without providing Trump and his co-defendants the ability to respond.
“Smith’s planned Final Report — now that he is unshackled from due process requirements that restrained him as a government actor — would engender the very prejudice, passion, and excitement and be an exercise of the tyrannical power that our court system is designed to insulate against,” the filing said.
In a brief filing Tuesday, a lawyer on Smith’s staff confirmed that the special counsel’s office is “working to finalize” its report, and said that Garland will have the final say over what material will be made public.
(NEW YORK) — When convicted Delphi, Indiana, killer Richard Allen returns to court for sentencing on Friday, he’s expected to come face-to-face with the victims’ families.
Last month, a jury found Allen guilty on all charges in the double homicide: felony murder for the killing of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams while attempting to commit kidnapping; felony murder for the killing of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German while attempting to commit kidnapping; murder for knowingly killing Abby; and murder for knowingly killing Libby.
Allen faces a sentence of 90 to 130 years in prison.
A gag order has prevented the families of Abby and Libby from commenting during or after Allen’s trial. But at sentencing, they’ll get their chance to address Allen through victim impact statements.
When Allen was arrested in 2022 — five years after the 2017 murders — Libby’s grandparents and guardians, Becky and Mike Patty, told ABC News they were grappling with the news that the suspect was living among them in their small town.
“How can somebody do that and then just go on living life like nothing happened?” Mike Patty said.
Law enforcement, prosecutors and defense attorneys have also been under the gag order and have not yet commented on the verdict.
Abby and Libby were walking along a Delphi hiking trail when they were attacked on Feb. 13, 2017. Their throats were slit and their bodies were dumped in the nearby woods.
Moments before the murders, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat showing her on the Monon High Bridge. After crossing the bridge, the girls saw a man behind them — who became known as “bridge guy” — and Libby started a recording on her phone, according to prosecutors.
As police looked for the suspect, they released footage from Libby’s phone to the public: a grainy image of “bridge guy” and an audio clip of him telling the girls to go “down the hill.”
Allen, a husband and father who worked at the local CVS, was arrested in 2022. He admitted to police he was on the trail that day, but he denied being involved in the crime.
The prosecution’s key physical evidence was a .40-caliber unspent round discovered by the girls’ bodies. Police analysis determined that unspent round was cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226, prosecutors said.
Another major focus of the trial was Allen’s multiple confessions in jail and his mental health at the time. The defense argued Allen was in a psychotic state when he confessed numerous times to his psychologist, corrections officers and his wife.
