United States President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on January 10, 2025, in the criminal case in which he was convicted on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star.
Trump, a former president, is unlikely to face jail time or other penalties, presiding judge Justice Juan Merchan said on Friday, January 3.
Justice Merchan’s ruling means Trump will be required to appear at a court hearing just 10 days before his January 20 inauguration – an unprecedented scenario in U.S. history.
Before Trump, no U.S. president – former or sitting – had been charged with or convicted of a crime.
The judge said Trump, 78, may appear at his sentencing either in person or virtually.
He wrote that he was not inclined to sentence Trump to jail and that a sentence of “unconditional discharge” – meaning no custody, monetary fine, or probation – would be “the most viable solution”.
The imposition of the sentence would pave the way for Trump to appeal. Merchan acknowledged in his ruling that Trump has made clear he intends to appeal.
In a statement, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said there should be no sentencing in the case.
“This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed,” Cheung said.
Merchan announced his plan for the sentencing in denying Trump’s motion to dismiss the case due to his presidential election victory. Trump’s defense lawyers had argued that having the case hang over him during his presidency would impede his ability to govern, Reuters reported.
Merchan rejected that argument, writing that setting aside the jury’s verdict would “undermine the Rule of Law in immeasurable ways”.
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“Defendant’s status as President-elect does not require the drastic and ‘rare’ application of (the court’s) authority to grant the (dismissal) motion,” Merchan wrote in the decision.
Merchan also rejected Trump’s argument in a December 3 court filing that dismissal was warranted because his “civic and financial contributions to this city and the Nation are too numerous to count.”
While acknowledging Trump’s service as president, the judge said Trump’s public statements excoriating the justice system were also a factor for him in determining how Trump’s character would factor into the decision.
Merchan criticized what he called Trump’s “unrelenting and unsubstantiated attacks” against the integrity of the criminal proceeding, and noted that he had found him guilty of 10 counts of contempt during the trial for repeatedly violating an order restricting out-of-court statements about witnesses and others.
“Defendant has gone to great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole,” Justice Merchan wrote.
“Defendant’s character and history vis-a-vis the Rule of Law and the Third Branch of government must be analyzed,” the judge said, referring to the judiciary.
“In that vein, it does not weigh in his favor,” Merchan noted.
The case stemmed from a $130,000 payment that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.
The payment was for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it.
A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment. He had pleaded not guilty and called the case an attempt by Manhattan District Attorney Bragg, the Democratic prosecutor who brought the charges, to harm his 2024 campaign.
Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for July 11, 2024, but has been pushed back several times.
Trump was charged in three other state and federal criminal cases in 2023: one involving classified documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. The Justice Department moved to dismiss the two federal cases after Trump’s election victory.
Trump’s state criminal case in Georgia over charges stemming from his effort to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state is in limbo.
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