US President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on January 10 in the criminal case in which he was convicted on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, but is unlikely to face jail time or other penalties, a judge said on Friday.
Justice Juan 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 US history. Before Trump, no US 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 case stemmed from a $130,000 payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump, who denies it.
A jury in May found Trump guilty of falsifying records to mask the payment prior to the 2016 election.
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.
“It is a fake, made up charge by a corrupt judge who is just doing the work of the Biden/Harris Injustice Department,” Trump wrote. “He created a case where there was none.”
“I was hiding nothing, everything was out in the open for all to see. Every legal scholar of note said there IS NO CASE AGAINST ME. The judge should be disbarred!”
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.
Merchan rejected that argument, writing that setting aside the jury’s verdict would “undermine the Rule of Law in immeasurable ways.”
