U.S. president-elect Donald Trump was formally sentenced Friday 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 — didn’t hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.
With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Judge Juan M. Merchan has indicated he plans a no-penalty sentence called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors aren't opposing it. That would mean no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed, but nothing is final until Friday's proceeding is done.
Regardless of the outcome, Trump, a Republican, 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 witch hunt.”
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 attorney at the time, Michael Cohen — as part of a wider effort to keep voters from hearing about Trump's alleged extramarital escapades.
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. Trump's lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.After Trump's election, special counsel Jack Smith closed out the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
CTVNews.ca asked Canadians who've embraced the digital nomad lifestyle, or have done so in the past, to share their stories — the challenges, triumphs and everything in between.When three masked individuals entered Jewellery Forever and started smashing a display case, Jerry Sorani knew he had to defend the store he has owned for the last 16 years. So, he grabbed a nearby broomstick.
Mandy Moore, Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton among celebrities whose homes were destroyed in L.A. wildfires Former U.S. Olympian Gary Hall Jr. won 10 Olympic medals and six world championship medals in his swimming career. He believes he's lost them all in the Palisades wildfire, he told CNN’s Erin Burnett.UK Athletics – the governing body for track and field in the United Kingdom – and a former official have been charged with manslaughter following the death of a 36-year-old Paralympian in 2017, the Crown Prosecution Service announced on Wednesday.
Brian McConaghy began his work in Cambodia decades ago, helping the RCMP on investigations to jail to sex predators from B.C. abusing children overseas. Later, his organization, supported by Canadians, built a secure centre in Phnom Penh, where they protect and support those who have been trafficked internationally.
Two men who became the faces of a COVID-19 protest blockade at a key border crossing between Alberta and the United States nearly three years ago will learn their fates Friday.Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly will not run for Liberal leadership, CTV News has confirmed. Up to now, Joly was widely considered a potential successor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who recently announced he would resign as leader of the Liberal party.Algonquin College plans to close its campus in Perth, Ont.
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