A judge Friday set U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money case for Jan. 10 — a little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but promised not to jail him.
Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial, signalled in a written decision that he’d sentence the former and future president to what’s known as a conditional discharge, in which a case gets dismissed if a defendant avoids rearrest.
The development marks yet another twist in the singular case.
A jury convicted Trump in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 US hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The allegations involved a scheme to hide the payout to Daniels during the final days of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign to keep her from publicizing her claim of a sexual encounter with the married then-businessman years earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them.
After Trump’s Nov. 5 election, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the sentencing so the defence and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.
Trump’s lawyers urged Merchan to toss it. They said it would otherwise pose unconstitutional “disruptions” to the incoming president’s ability to run the country.
Prosecutors acknowledged there should be some accommodation for his upcoming presidency, but they insisted the conviction should stand.
They suggested various options, such as freezing the case during his term or guaranteeing him a no-jail sentence. They also proposed closing the case while formally noting both his conviction and his undecided appeal — an idea drawn from what some state courts do when criminal defendants die while appealing their cases.
Trump takes office Jan. 20.
