Hush money trial: Sentencing against Trump set for January 10th

Ten days before Donald Trump’s planned swearing-in, the sentence in the hush money trial against the US President-elect will surprisingly be announced next week. Judge Juan Merchan set the previously postponed date for Jan. 10, court documents show. Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as US President on January 20th.

Trump could appear at the court date “in person or virtually,” the document says. The judge writes that he is not inclined to impose a prison sentence – which was not considered very likely anyway. The US President-elect had previously failed in his attempt to overturn the verdict imposed on him in New York for concealing hush money payments. The responsible judge, Merchan, had upheld the guilty verdict against the Republican.

Judge: Payments made before Trump’s time as president

Trump’s lawyers had argued that US presidents enjoy broad immunity for actions taken while in office, according to a ruling by the US Supreme Court. However, Judge Merchan explained that this decision does not apply in the present case because the disputed hush money payments to a porn actress were made before Trump’s first presidency from 2017 to 2021. Furthermore, these were acts as a private citizen.

The trial was about the illegal concealment of $130,000 in hush money that Trump had paid to a porn actress – according to the court’s conviction, with the aim of gaining advantages in the 2016 election campaign. Jurors in New York found Trump guilty on 34 counts in late May. It was the first time in United States history that a former president was convicted of a crime.

The sentence was originally supposed to have been announced in mid-September. But then Judge Merchan granted Trump’s request that the punishment not be announced until after the presidential election. There has never been a sentencing announcement for a president-elect in US history.