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A SENTENCING date for Donald Trump's hush money conviction has been set 10 days before the president-elect's inauguration.
Judge Juan Merchan issued the bombshell ruling on Friday, ordering Trump to appear in person or virtually for sentencing on January 10.
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In his ruling, Merchan said he found no "legal impediment to sentencing" Trump.
Judge Merchan wrote that Trump's motions arguing against sentencing are "unpersuasive as no compelling factor, consideration or circumstance submitted demonstrates that imposition of sentence would result in an injustice."
“Only by bringing finality to this matter” will the interests of justice be served, he wrote.
Merchan indicated that Trump will not face jail time.
Read more in The U.S. Sun
In his decision, Merchan wrote that it "seemed proper" to inform Trump that he was "inclined not to impose" a prison sentence, acknowledging the court "no longer view as a practicable" option.
In considering the Supreme Court's presidential immunity decision, the judge wrote that an unconditional discharge sentence appeared to be the "most viable solution to ensure finality."
An unconditional discharge closes a case without jail time, a fine, or probation.
The sentencing will come 10 days before Trump is sworn in as the 47th president on January 20.
Trump's defense team fought for months with Merchan to dismiss the case after the Supreme Court's immunity ruling and his November presidential election victory.
Merchan pushed back Trump's original August 2024 sentencing after the higher court ruled that former presidents are immune from prosecution for "some official acts" but no immunity for unofficial acts.
Donald Trump named Time Person of the Year AGAIN after historic election win and surviving two assassination bids
However, after Trump's November 5 election win, Judge Merchan paused and indefinitely suspended the sentencing so the defense and prosecution could discuss the case's future.
At the same time, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office filed several motions opposing the dismissal of the conviction.
Bragg, a Democrat, acknowledged the magnitude of sentencing an incoming president and suggested freezing the proceedings until the conclusion of Trump's second term.
That would have meant sentencing would not occur until January 2029 at the earliest.
HUSH MONEY CONVICTION
A jury in Lower Manhattan convicted Trump on May 30, 2024, of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to hide hush money payments to pornstar Stormy Daniels.
During the 2016 presidential election cycle, Daniels, born Stephanie Clifford, was going to go public with allegations that she had an affair with then-presidential candidate Trump in 2006.
But, when Trump and his team caught a whiff of Daniels' plans, the real estate tycoon allegedly ordered his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to pay the adult star $130,000 to suppress the story.
After his 2016 presidential election victory, Trump began paying back Cohen through monthly stipends, which he issued as legal services.
Trump has vehemently denied having an affair with Daniels.
Can Trump pardon himself once president?
Neama Rahmani, President of West Coast Lawyers, tells The U.S. Sun about the arguments still available to Trump to stop him being sentenced in the hush money case and if he can pardon himself once president:
Trump can't pardon himself because it's a New York state case.
The President can only pardon for federal crimes. There isn't much Trump can do to get revenge because the judge has broad immunity.
Trump will be sentenced in the New York hush money case on January 10.
Judge Juan Merchan ruled that Trump isn’t immune (presidential immunity), and it will not affect his ability to govern (separation of powers and Supremacy Clause).
Trump is expected to receive a conditional discharge, which means he won’t receive a substantive sentence.
Even though there is a theoretical possibility of imprisonment or probation, they are logistically impractical.
Trump will certainly appeal the conviction to the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, then the New York Court of Appeal, then the Supreme Court.
The real immediate question is whether the Appellate Division will step in to stop next week’s sentencing or if Trump will have to go through the normal appellate process, which will take months.
Trump had some success appealing in the New York civil fraud case, so this story is far from over.
Immediately after his conviction, Trump called the verdict a disgrace and labeled the trial rigged.
"This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt. This was a rigged trial, a disgrace," Trump fumed at reporters outside a Manhattan courtroom after the May 30, 2024, verdict.
The hush money case was the only one of Trump's four criminal indictments to go to trial.
Since his election win, Special Counsel Jack Smith has tossed two federal cases - one pertaining to Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another accusing him of storing classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House in 2021.
A separate election interference case in Georgia is on hold indefinitely.
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