Judge sets sentence for Donald Trump in hush money case but announces no prison time

NEW YORK (AP) In an extraordinary twist, a judge on Friday set President-elect Donald Trump's sentencing in his hush money case for Jan. 10, just over a week before he returns to the White House, but indicated that he would not be imprisoned.

The development nonetheless leaves Trump on track to become the first president to take office convicted of felony crimes.

Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial, indicated in a written ruling that he would sentence the former and future president to what is known as an absolute discharge, in which a case is closed without penalty prison, fine or probation. Trump can appear virtually for sentencing, if he chooses.

Rejecting Trump's push to throw out the verdict and drop the case on grounds of presidential immunity and because of his impending second term, Merchan wrote that only finalizing this case would serve the interests of justice.

He said he sought to balance Trump's ability to govern, unencumbered by the case, with other interests: the U.S. Supreme Court's July ruling on presidential immunity and the pending of the public that all are equal and that no one is above the law, and the importance of respecting the law. a jury verdict.

This court is simply not convinced that the first factor outweighs the others at this stage of the proceedings, Merchan wrote in an 18-page decision.

Trump's communications director, Steven Cheung, reiterated that the case, which Trump has long called illegitimate, should be dismissed outright.

There should be no convictions and President Trump will continue to fight these hoaxes until they are all dead, Cheung said in a statement. He did not elaborate on Trump's next potential legal moves.

Former Manhattan judge Diane Kiesel said the decision could not be appealed under New York law, but that Trump could still try to appeal. In any case, he can appeal his conviction, a step which can only be taken after he has been convicted.

Trump takes office on January 20 as the first former president to be convicted of a crime and the first convicted felon to be elected to office.

He was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. They involved an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of Trump's first campaign in 2016. The payment was made to prevent him from publishing claims that she allegedly had sex with married Trump years earlier. He says his story is false and he did nothing wrong.

Trump, a Republican, denounced the verdict as the rigged and shameful result of a witch hunt led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

The conviction left Trump, 78, facing the possibility of a sentence ranging from a fine or probation to four years in prison. His sentencing was initially set for July 11, then postponed twice at the request of the defense.

The case centered on how Trump explained he reimbursed his then-personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, for paying Daniels. Cohen on Friday called Merchan's decision to proceed with the sentencing wise and appropriate.

Mercan had postponed sentencing until after Trump's Nov. 5 election so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.

Trump's lawyers urged Merchan to throw it out. They said it would otherwise lead to unconstitutional disruptions in the new president's ability to lead the country.

Prosecutors acknowledged there should be accommodations for his next presidency, but they insisted the conviction should stand.

They suggested various options, such as freezing the case for the duration of his term or guaranteeing him a no-jail sentence. They also proposed closing the case while formally noting both his conviction and his appeal undecided, a novel idea taken from what some state courts do when criminal defendants die while appealing their cases .

Merchan ruled that Trump's current status as president-elect does not give him the same immunity as a sitting president. Overturning the verdict and dismissing the case would be a drastic step and would undermine the rule of law in immeasurable ways, Merchan wrote.

Before Trump's election in November, his lawyers sought to overturn his conviction for a different reason: the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, which gave presidents broad protection from criminal prosecution.

Trump was a private citizen campaigning for the presidency, but neither elected nor sworn in when Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016. He was president when Cohen was reimbursed, and Cohen testified that they discussed reimbursement terms in the office Oval.

Trump's lawyers argued the jury obtained evidence that should have been protected by presidential immunity. Merchan later rejected this argument, but in the meantime the election has raised new questions.

While urging Merchan to overturn the conviction, Trump also sought to take the case to federal court, where he could also assert his immunity. A federal judge repeatedly said no, but Trump appealed.

The hush money case was the only one of Trump's four criminal indictments to go to trial.

Since the election, special counsel Jack Smith has terminated his two federal cases. One concerned Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat; the other alleged he stockpiled classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

A separate state-level election interference case in Georgia is in limbo after an appeals court removed prosecutor Fani Willis from the case.

Trump's lawyers argued that Smith's decision to dismiss the federal indictments against Trump should also result in the dismissal of the New York monetary hush case. But Merchan said he found that argument unconvincing, pointing out that the financial silence case was at a very different stage.

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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed.

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