A New York judge released a decision today that upheld Donald Trump’s criminal conviction in his hush-money trial. The judge also signaled that he was inclined to spare the president-elect any punishment.
The judge, Juan Merchan, indicated that he favored a so-called unconditional discharge of Trump’s sentence, a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation. He set a sentencing date of Jan. 10, rebuffing Trump’s request to overturn the jury’s verdict.
An unconditional discharge would cement Trump’s status as a felon just before his inauguration on Jan. 20 even as it would water down the consequences for his crimes. Trump would be the first to carry that designation into the Oval Office.
Trump is now expected to ask an appeals court to intervene and postpone the sentencing. A Manhattan jury convicted him in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records, concluding that he had sought to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his 2016 campaign for president. He faced up to four years in prison in the case.
Mike Johnson was re-elected as House speaker
Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, was re-elected this afternoon to the House’s top leadership post.
Three right-wing Republicans, and every Democrat, initially opposed Johnson. Eventually, after huddling with Johnson, two of the three Republican holdouts agreed to support his candidacy. The fairly swift acquiesce was a major victory for Johnson, and Donald Trump, but it previewed challenges that Republicans could face with such a narrow majority in the House.
“Getting elected speaker was probably the easiest part,” our congressional corespondent Catie Edmondson told me, adding that the chaotic vote forecasts difficult times ahead for Johnson.
The surgeon general called for cancer warnings on alcohol
The U.S. surgeon general released a report today urging Congress to require alcoholic beverages be affixed with labels warning drinkers of cancer risks, similar to those on packs of cigarettes. He pointed to a growing body of research that has linked drinking, sometimes even within the recommended limits, to various types of cancer.
The move was the latest salvo in a fierce debate about the risks and benefits of moderate drinking as the influential Dietary Guidelines for Americans are about to be updated. For decades, moderate drinking was linked to fewer heart attacks and strokes. But alcohol directly contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 related deaths each year, the surgeon general said.
The South Korean police tried, but failed, to detain the president
About 100 criminal investigators and police officers entered a hilly compound in Seoul this morning in an effort to do something that has never been done before in South Korea: detain a sitting president. Prosecutors were seeking to question President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges after he abruptly declared martial law last month.
However, the authorities were blocked from the president’s residence by Yoon’s security forces. After a dramatic five-and-a-half-hour standoff, the officials retreated and said they were discussing what their next step would be.
More top news
Nikki Glaser wants you to laugh at the Golden Globes
The veteran comic Nikki Glaser had a big 2024. She broke into the mainstream with the roast of Tom Brady, and she released a knockout HBO special. But perhaps her biggest moment yet will arrive on Sunday, when she is set to host this year’s Golden Globes.
To prepare, Glaser refined her jokes over the last month with the help of two writers’ rooms and 91 test runs at comedy clubs. Our critic Jason Zinoman followed along with her.
‘American Primeval’ strips the glory from the Old West
The director Peter Berg doesn’t consider his new Netflix series, “American Primeval,” set in the Utah Territory in 1857, to be a western. There are no saloons or cowboys, and the mood is anything but nostalgic.
Instead, Berg’s goal — which can be seen in nearly every begrimed frame — is brutal authenticity, though the show is largely fiction. “You get a little bit closer to some of the origin stories of how our country was formed,” Berg said. “Those origin stories are very violent.”
Come for the football, stay for the mayonnaise
Tonight, under the lights of a 75,000-person stadium in Charlotte, N.C., two college football teams will battle for the chance to see their head coach bathed in five gallons of celebratory mayo. Sound weird and gross? That’s sort of the point.
For the last several years, Duke’s Mayo has sponsored a postseason game to market its product. There will be mayo-eating contests, a mayo race, mayo bobbing and, of course, the mayo bath.
Have a strangely gleeful weekend.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back on Monday. — Matthew
Kirsten Luce was our photo editor today.
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