Trump loses last ditch bid to cancel sentencing hearing

Donald Trump will now be sentenced in the hush money case on Saturday (AEDT), while the US Attorney-General has agreed to release the special counsel’s report on his 2020 election charges.

Donald Trump will be sentenced over the Stormy Daniels hush money case on Saturday AEDT.

The US Supreme Court has denied a last-minute bid by Donald Trump to halt sentencing in his hush money case.

The court, which includes three justices appointed by Mr Trump, rejected his emergency application seeking to block ­Friday’s (early Saturday AEDT) sentencing by a 5-4 vote.

The court said the “burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial” and noted that Mr Trump would be allowed to attend virtually.

The court also noted that judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the hush money case, had already said he plans to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge”, which does not carry any jail time, fine or probation.

Mr Trump was convicted by a New York jury in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The 78-year-old is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and will be the first convicted felon to serve in the White House.

In a post on Truth Social following the Supreme Court decision, Mr Trump thanked the court for “trying to remedy the great injustice done to me” and lashed out at Judge Merchan, calling him a “highly political and corrupt judge”.

“I am innocent of all of the Judge’s made up, fake charges,” he said, adding that he will continue to pursue appeals of the guilty verdict in the hush money case.

Four conservative justices – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh – were in favour of granting Trump’s request.

The Supreme Court’s decision came as US Attorney-General Merrick Garland cleared the way for the publication of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on the Mr Trump’s prosecution for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Mr Smith dropped the federal criminal case against Mr Trump after he won November’s presidential election but Mr Smith has compiled a report summarising the findings

The Justice Department said Mr Garland does not plan to publicly release Smith’s report on the other case brought against Mr Trump — for removing large quantities of top secret documents after leaving the White House.

Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed the documents case against the former and future president last year but charges are still pending against two of his former co-defendants.

Ms Cannon, in a ruling on Tuesday, barred Mr Smith and Mr Garland from “releasing, sharing, or transmitting the Final Report” until an appeals court hears arguments from the pair — Trump’s long-time valet and a Mar-a-Lago employee.

The Justice Department asked the appeals court on Wednesday to overturn Ms Cannon’s ruling but said Mr Garland — “to avoid any risk of prejudice to defendants” — does not intend to publicly release the report on the documents case while it is ongoing.

Mr Trump, 78, was accused by Mr Smith of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden and stashing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

Mr Trump attacked Mr Smith at a news conference on Tuesday, calling him a “deranged individual.”

“Why should he be allowed to write a fake report?” the Republican president-elect said. “It’ll be a fake report just like the investigation was a fake investigation.”

Mr Smith dropped the cases against Mr Trump, who is to be sworn in as president on January 20, after the election citing a Justice Department policy of not indicting or prosecuting a sitting president.

AFP