A Manhattan judge scheduled President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money criminal case for Jan. 10, 10 days before Trump’s inauguration. Trump was indicted on 34 felony fraud charges in March 2023 by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
The indictment makes Trump the first former president convicted of felony crimes and the first convicted criminal to take office.
In an 18-page ruling, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan decided that dismissing the case based on Trump’s former and impending position as president would undermine public trust in the United States legal system.
Merchan also ruled that an unconditional discharge “appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options.” This means the president-elect will likely receive a mark on his criminal record but will not be imprisoned or fined.
On Truth Social, the social media platform owned by Trump, the president-elect expressed his frustration, calling the case a “witch hunt.”
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“This illegitimate political attack is nothing but a Rigged Charade,” Trump said in the post.
He continued, claiming the decision “goes against our Constitution and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it.”
The case
Trump’s legal team tried for months to argue for the case’s dismissal and persuade the judge to overturn the guilty verdict on grounds of presidential immunity, but Merchan rejected the move.
Trump’s attorneys also requested that Merchan delay sentencing the former president from Sep. 18 until after the Nov. 5 election, a request the judge granted.
The case stems from allegations that Trump, along with former American Media executive David Pecker and his attorney Michael Cohen, orchestrated hush money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign to suppress negative press.
While hush money payments are not inherently illegal, the payments made by the Trump Organization were allegedly falsely logged as legal fees into the company’s disclosure of financial records.
The hush money payments were made by Cohen and American Media to individuals who claimed to have information that could impact the campaign.
One payment was made to a Trump Tower doorman, Dino Sajudin, who falsely claimed to have information that Trump fathered a child out of wedlock. American Media gave Sajudin $30,000 for the rights to the rumor. In an interview with The Associated Press, the woman at the center of the claim denied that she had had an affair with Trump.
Another payment was to former Playmate Karen McDougal, who alleged she had an affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. McDougal received $150,000 from American Media for the rights to the story; however, the company had no intention to run it. This tactic is known as “catch and kill.”
Cohen made the third payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, a porn actress who allegedly had a sexual encounter with Trump at Lake Tahoe in 2006. Trump has denied the encounter.
Following his involvement in the hush money arrangements, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison in December 2018 for crimes including campaign finance violation.
Trump is set to appear in court for sentencing, in person or virtually, on Jan. 10 at 9:30 a.m.
