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After completely shutting the press out of President-elect Donald Trump’s “hush money” trial, Judge Juan Merchan is allowing audio during the sentencing.

Social media users are baffled by the decision to allow audio of the sentencing to be broadcast after refusing anything during the trial. Many believe this to be a political move, claiming the judge wants the “world” to hear him “sentence Donald Trump.”

Mollie Hemingway agreed, saying Merchan is allowing audio “for maximum political effect.”

Unfortunately for Trump, the Supreme Court declined to block the stay of sentencing that his lawyers had asked for, meaning the incoming president will be sentenced on Friday as planned.

As BizPac Review previously reported:

Trump urged the justices to halt the sentencing in an emergency application on Wednesday, arguing his appeal would “ultimately result in the dismissal of the District Attorney’s politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning, centered around the wrongful actions and false claims of a disgraced, disbarred serial-liar former attorney, violated President Trump’s due process rights, and had no merit.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg wrote Thursday in a brief that there is “no basis” for stopping the sentencing, noting there is “only one President at a time.”

“Nonemployees of the government do not exercise any official function that would be impaired by the conclusion of a criminal case against a private citizen for private conduct,” the brief stated.

X users weighed in on the judge’s decision:

Sierra Marlee
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