NewsBite

New York Judge Sets Donald Trump Hush-Money Sentencing for January 10

In a surprise move, a New York judge says he will sentence Donald Trump for his hush-money conviction before the President-elect begins his second term in the White House.

President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on January 10.
President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on January 10.

A New York judge in a surprise move Friday said he would sentence Donald Trump for his hush-money conviction before the president-elect begins his second term in the White House, but made clear that a prison term wasn’t a possibility.

Justice Juan Merchan said he would sentence Trump on January 10, rejecting Trump’s argument that the verdict couldn’t remain in place after his re-election. Manhattan prosecutors had agreed to postpone the sentencing until after Trump’s second term or even never hold the proceeding, both of which the judge rejected.

“Finding no legal impediment to sentencing and recognising that Presidential immunity will likely attach once Defendant takes his Oath of Office, it is incumbent upon this Court to set this matter down for the imposition of sentence prior to January 20, 2025,” Merchan wrote.

The judge said that Trump could appear for his sentencing, which will be held in state court in Manhattan, either virtually or in person. Merchan said he wasn’t inclined to send Trump to jail, and that an unconditional discharge – or a sentence without any punishment – was “the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options.” A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who brought the case, declined to comment. A spokesman for Trump didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Judge denies Trump's bid to scrap hush money conviction

A jury last year convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records, which are the state’s lowest-level felony and carry no mandatory sentence. He had faced a range of potential punishments, from probation or a fine to jail time, though many observers believed incarceration was unlikely, even before Trump was elected this fall.

The New York prosecution made Trump the first former president in US history to be found guilty of a crime. After a more than monthlong trial, a jury convicted him of covering up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election. Daniels alleged a sexual encounter with Trump, a claim he denies.

Prosecutors alleged Trump conspired with a tabloid publisher and his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to influence the 2016 election by burying negative stories that could hurt his candidacy. Trump denied wrongdoing and said the case, brought by Bragg was politically motivated. The former president campaigned for re-election from the courthouse and raised funds off the narrative that he was being treated unfairly.

The Wall Street Journal

Read related topics:Donald Trump

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/the-wall-street-journal/new-york-judge-sets-donald-trump-hushmoney-sentencing-for-january-10/news-story/6dd839f1fed63d01646d97bd0762d8ca