(NEW YORK) — A judge unexpectedly scheduled President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing for his hush-money case on January 10th, just over a week before his inauguration, but indicated he would not face imprisonment.
This development makes Trump the first president-elect convicted of felonies to assume office.
Judge Juan M. Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s trial, stated in his ruling that he would sentence the former and future president to a conditional discharge, whereby the case is dismissed if the defendant avoids further legal trouble.
Merchan dismissed Trump’s attempts to dismiss the verdict, rejecting claims of presidential immunity and the impact on his upcoming presidency. The judge stated there were “no legal impediments to sentencing” and that sentencing before his January 20th inauguration was “incumbent” upon him.
Merchan wrote that only by “bringing finality to this matter” would justice be served.
Trump was convicted of felony charges. The charges involved an alleged scheme to conceal a hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of his 2016 presidential campaign. The payment was made to prevent Daniels from publicizing her claims of an affair with the then-married Trump years prior. Trump maintains her claims are false and he did nothing wrong.
Following Trump’s November 5th election win, Merchan paused proceedings and postponed sentencing indefinitely to allow both the defense and prosecution to address the case’s future.
Trump’s legal team urged Merchan to dismiss the case, arguing that a conviction would unconstitutionally impede the incoming president’s ability to govern.
Prosecutors acknowledged the need for accommodation given his upcoming presidency but insisted the conviction should stand. They proposed various options, such as pausing the case during his term or ensuring a non-custodial sentence. They also suggested closing the case while formally acknowledging both his conviction and pending appeal—a novel approach based on practices in some state courts when defendants die during appeals.
Trump will assume office on January 20th as the first former president convicted of a crime and the first convicted criminal elected to the presidency.
His conviction left the 78-year-old facing potential penalties ranging from fines and probation to up to four years in prison.
The case focused on how Trump accounted for reimbursing his personal attorney for the Daniels payment.
Attorney Michael Cohen initially paid Daniels. He was later reimbursed through payments that Trump’s company recorded as legal expenses. Trump, then president, signed most of these checks himself.
Prosecutors argued this designation was intended to obscure the payments’ true purpose and conceal a broader effort to prevent voters from hearing damaging claims about the Republican candidate during his first campaign.
Trump asserted that Cohen was legitimately paid for legal services, and that Daniels’ story was suppressed to protect his family, not to sway voters.
Trump was a private citizen—campaigning for president but not yet elected or sworn in—when Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016. He was president when Cohen was reimbursed, and Cohen testified that they discussed the repayment in the Oval Office.
Trump, a Republican, has denounced the verdict as a “rigged, disgraceful” outcome of a “witch hunt” orchestrated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
Before Trump’s November election, his lawyers sought to overturn his conviction on different grounds: a July U.S. Supreme Court decision. This request remained pending when the election introduced new complexities.
While seeking to overturn the conviction, Trump also attempted to transfer the case to federal court, where he could assert immunity. A federal judge repeatedly denied this request, a decision Trump appealed.
The hush-money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to proceed to trial.
Since the election, special counsel Jack Smith has concluded his two federal cases. One involved Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results; the other alleged he illegally stored classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
A separate state-level election interference case in Georgia is largely stalled.
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