By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on Jan. 10 in his criminal trial on charges of secret payments to a porn star, but is unlikely to face jail time or other penalties, a judge said. on Friday.
Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling means Trump will have to appear in court just 10 days before his January 20 inauguration – a scenario unprecedented in US history. Before Trump, no US president – former or current – had been charged or convicted of a crime.
The judge said Trump, 78, could appear at the sentencing in person or virtually.
He wrote that he was not inclined to sentence Trump to prison and that a sentence of “unconditional release” — meaning no jail time, fine or probation — would be the “most sustainable solution.”
The case arose out of a $130,000 payment by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about sexual contact she said she had with Trump, who denies it. A jury found Trump guilty in May of falsifying records to conceal the payment before the 2016 election.
Imposing a sentence would open the way for Trump to appeal. In his ruling, Merchan acknowledged that Trump had made it clear he intended to appeal.
In a post on his Truth Social social network, Trump said he had never falsified business information.
“It’s a bogus, trumped-up charge by a corrupt judge just doing the Biden/Harris job of the Injustice Department,” Trump wrote. “He created a case where none existed.”
Merchan announced his sentencing plan by rejecting Trump’s request to dismiss the case because of his presidential victory. Trump’s defense lawyers argued that having the case hang over him during his presidency would impede his ability to govern.
Merchan rejected that argument, writing that overturning the jury’s verdict would “undermine the rule of law in immeasurable ways.”
“Defendant’s status as president-elect does not require a drastic and ‘infrequent’ exercise of (the court’s) authority to grant the motion (for dismissal),” Merchan wrote in the decision.
Merchan also rejected Trump’s argument in a Dec. 3 court filing that the removal was justified because his “civic and financial contributions to this city and nation are too great to count.”
While crediting Trump’s service as president, the judge said Trump’s public statements insulting the justice system were also a factor for him in determining how Trump’s character would affect the decision.
Merchan criticized what he called Trump’s “relentless and baseless attacks” on the integrity of the criminal process, noting that during his trial he found him guilty of 10 counts of contempt of court for repeatedly violating an order restricting out-of-court statements about witnesses and others.
“The defendant has gone to great lengths to publicize on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole,” Merchan wrote.
“The character and history of the defendant in relation to the rule of law and the third branch of government must be analyzed,” the judge said, referring to the judiciary. “In that sense, it doesn’t work in his favor.”
“EXTREME MEDICINE”
A Manhattan jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the payment to Daniels. He has pleaded not guilty and called the case an attempt by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democratic prosecutor who brought the charges, to hurt his 2024 campaign.
Trump’s sentencing was originally scheduled for July 11, 2024, but has been postponed several times. On Thursday, Merchan said Trump’s request in August to delay sentencing until after the election implied he agreed to the sentence during the transition period.
“Any claim by defendant that circumstances have changed as a result of defendant winning the presidential election, while appropriate, is disingenuous,” Merchan wrote.
Bragg did not object to delaying sentencing until after the election. In September, Merchan moved it to November 26.
After Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, the judge delayed sentencing indefinitely to figure out next steps.
Bragg’s office argued that there are measures other than the “extreme remedy” of overturning the jury’s verdict that could ease Trump’s concerns that he has been hampered by the criminal case while he was president, such as delaying the sentence until Trump leaves the White House in 2029.
Merchan wrote Thursday that he considered that alternative “less desirable” than condemning Trump before the inauguration.
PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY
On Dec. 16, Trump lost a separate bid to overturn the ruling of silence in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling that presidents cannot be prosecuted for their official acts and that evidence of their official acts cannot be introduced in criminal cases personal behavior.
Rejecting Trump’s motion to dismiss, Merchan said the prosecution’s “resolutely personal acts of falsification of business records do not pose a threat to encroach on the authority and function of the executive branch.”
Forgery of business books is punishable by up to four years in prison, but prison sentence is not mandatory. Before the election victory, legal experts said it was unlikely that Trump would serve time in prison due to his lack of criminal record and advanced age.
Trump was indicted in three other state and federal criminal cases in 2023: one related to secret documents he kept after leaving office and two others involving his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss.
He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. The Justice Department decided to drop two federal cases after Trump’s election victory.
Trump’s state criminal case in Georgia over charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state is in limbo.
