Key Points
- Donald Trump will be sentenced this month in his criminal case over a hush money payment.
- Trump was convicted last year on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment.
- The judge overseeing the case had pushed back the sentencing date indefinitely after Trump's election win.
Donald Trump must be sentenced on 10 January in the criminal case in which he was convicted on charges involving hush money paid to an adult film star, a US judge has ruled, adding he is not inclined to impose a jail sentence.
Trump was to cover up a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Justice Juan Merchan said he denied Trump's motion to dismiss the case due to his presidential election victory.
The judge said the Republican president-elect may appear for the sentencing, which will take place just 10 days before his inauguration, either in-person or virtually.
Merchan wrote on Friday (local time) that a sentence of "unconditional discharge" — meaning no custody, monetary fine, or probation — would be "the most viable solution."
Donald Trump will return to the White House for his second term on 20 January. Source: Anadolu, Getty / Brendan Gutenschwager
Merchan rejected that argument, writing that setting aside the jury's verdict would "undermine the rule of law in immeasurable ways".
"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.
Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced on 26 November, but Merchan after Trump in the 5 November election.
Prosecutors with Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which brought the case, said there were measures short of the "extreme remedy" of overturning the jury's verdict that could assuage Trump's concerns about being distracted by a criminal case while serving as president.
They suggested several options for Merchan, including delaying the sentencing until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029, or guaranteeing a sentence that would not involve prison time.
The prosecutors also said the judge could simply terminate the case with a notation that Trump was never sentenced and his conviction was neither affirmed nor reversed on appeal.
They said a similar approach was used in cases where a defendant dies after being convicted but before being sentenced.
The case stemmed from a $US130,000 ($209,000) payment that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actor Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as 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.
It was the first time a US president — former or sitting — had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence.
Trump pleaded not guilty and called the case an attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to harm his 2024 campaign.
On 16 December, Trump lost a separate bid to overturn the conviction.
This was in light of a decision by the US Supreme Court in July that presidents and that evidence of their official actions cannot be presented in criminal cases involving personal conduct.
In denying Trump's motion to dismiss, Merchan said the prosecution over "decidedly personal acts of falsifying business records poses no danger of intrusion on the authority and function of the executive branch".
Trump's spokesperson calls sentencing decision a 'violation'
Steven Cheung, Trump's incoming communications director, said in a statement to Agence France-Presse that Merchan's decision to go ahead with sentencing marks a "violation" of the Supreme Court's presidential immunity ruling.
Cheung — whose legal opinion is disputed by experts — called the case "lawless" and said the constitution demands that it be dismissed.
"President Trump must be allowed to continue the presidential transition process and to execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the witch hunts," he added
"There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead."
Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison, but incarceration is not required.
Before his election victory, legal experts said it was unlikely Trump would be locked up due to his lack of a criminal history and advanced age.
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.
