OA1110 - For the first time in US history, an American President (both former and future) is facing criminal sentencing. We review Judge Juan Merchan’s most recent ruling on Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss his conviction for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and the difficult balance that Merchan has struck in trying to weigh the jury’s verdict and the rule of law itself against the fact that the defendant will be ten days away from regaining the nuclear codes as of the time of his scheduled hearing. 

We also review Aileen Cannon’s recent probably-illegal desperate order to try to stop special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Trump’s many federal crimes from going public before trying to understand why Democrats would even consider signing on an extremely hard-right immigration bill which can only help to fuel  Trump’s mass deportation machine. How will the Laken Riley Act allow undocumented people to get away with nearly any theft offense, and give state AGs broad power over national immigration policy?  Matt then drops a quick footnote on the questionable state of Rudy Giuliani’s physical, mental, and legal health as two different federal judges consider just how contemptuous he has become before we circle back for some late-breaking updates in both of this episode’s Trump stories.

• Docket for Trump v. US (SD FL)

• NY Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling denying Trump’s motion to dismiss and scheduling sentencing for 1/10/25 (1/3/25)

• Trump’s application for a stay of sentencing to the US Supreme Court (1/7/25)

• SCOTUS ruling on Trump’s application for stay of sentencing (1/9/25)

• Full text of the Laken Riley Act, H.R. 29 (introduced 1/5/25)

• Rudy Giuliani’s sworn declaration confirming that he will be attending contempt proceedings in DC federal court (1/9/25)

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