No Jail Time, Boooooo!
President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on 34 counts of falsifying business records ahead of his swearing-in on Jan. 20, a judge ruled Friday.
The decision to schedule the sentencing Jan. 10 almost certainly means Trump will be the first felon to serve as a U.S. president.
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New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote in his ruling that he does not intend to sentence Trump to jail. He said he plans to order an “unconditional discharge,” a designation in New York criminal courts for a non-jail and non-probation sentence that carries no other obligations.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to an adult-film star ahead of the 2016 election. He faced up to four years in prison, but many experts said incarceration was unlikely because of his age and his lack of prior convictions.
Since Trump’s victory at the polls in November, his lawyers have argued that anything short of dismissing the case would violate laws that protect the transition process and grant immunity from prosecution to sitting presidents.
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In his decision, Merchan rejected those arguments. He called the Trump team’s claims a “novel theory” of presidential immunity that would amount to an abuse of his legal discretion.
“The Defendant has presented no valid argument to convince this Court otherwise," he said. "Binding precedent does not provide that an individual, upon becoming President, can retroactively dismiss or vacate prior criminal acts nor does it grant blanket Presidential-elect immunity. This Court is therefore forbidden from recognizing either form of immunity.”
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office had floated the idea of postponing Trump’s sentencing until after his term ends in 2029. Prosecutors also suggested the judge consider abating the case against Trump while preserving the record of his conviction, a legal mechanism typically used when a defendant dies while proceedings are pending.
The district attorney’s office argued throwing out the case entirely “would go well beyond what is necessary to protect the presidency and would subvert the compelling public interest in preserving the jury’s unanimous verdict and upholding the rule of law.”
The case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial before the 2024 presidential election. His victory at the polls made it extremely unlikely he would face additional proceedings in the other cases — at least over the next four years.
Trump’s New York sentencing was originally booked for July but was postponed until September after the Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision on presidential immunity, expanding the scope of what presidential behavior is protected from prosecution. That ruling stemmed from a different Trump indictment, in federal court in D.C., which accused him of unlawfully trying to block Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
As this year’s election approached, the sentencing was delayed again, setting the stage for the latest ruling by Merchan, the trial judge.
Separately, Merchan found in a decision Dec. 16 that the high court’s immunity ruling did not nullify Trump’s case in New York because his conduct had no connection to his official duties and the crimes were launched before his first term began in 2017. He also found the defense failed during Trump’s trial to preserve some of his rights to make certain immunity arguments after the fact.
The jury deliberated just over a day before finding Trump guilty on May 30, marking the first time a former president was convicted of a crime. Evidence presented at trial showed he tried to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election as he faced a cascade of sex-related scandals that threatened to derail his campaign.
The money was intended to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump at a charity golf event at Lake Tahoe in 2006, an episode that Trump denies ever happened. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, paid Daniels directly. Trump reimbursed him in installments that were logged as routine legal fees and not reported as campaign expenses, according to trial testimony.
The trial in New York, where Trump was raised and spent most of his life, attracted enormous attention and helped shaped Trump’s unorthodox presidential campaign.
Trump railed daily in front of television cameras against the prosecutors and judge, rallying his base as he said he was the victim of a politically motivated effort to stop him from winning. In the final days of the trial, members of Congress and other Trump allies joined him at the court in a show of solidarity. Several of them have since been invited to join Trump’s administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...gnet-trump-stormydaniels_inline_collection_19
Jurors heard from tabloid publisher David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump’s, about efforts by the National Enquirer to stifle negative stories about Trump during his 2016 campaign. Daniels, appearing nervous during some of her testimony, conveyed explicit details about the alleged sexual encounter in Trump’s hotel room, which at times sounded nonconsensual. She also discussed negotiations for the six-figure payment a decade later during a close presidential election.
Cohen, who is now a vehement Trump critic, described Trump’s efforts to keep the Daniels account private.
The New York case was the only one of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial before this fall’s election. Two of the others have been dismissed, and a third appears to be on pause at least until he completes his time as president.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge in November to drop the election-interference case in D.C., standing by the facts of the indictment but citing Justice Department policy against the prosecution of a sitting president. A judge dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could in theory seek a new indictment after Trump’s second term.
Smith separately brought charges against Trump in federal court in Florida, for allegedly hoarding classified records at his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club and obstructing government efforts to recover them. But a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the case in July, saying Smith had been improperly appointed. Smith is appealing that decision but dropped Trump from the case after the election. If his appeal is successful, the Justice Department could still prosecute Trump’s two co-defendants.
Trump’s final indictment is in Georgia, where he and more than a dozen others are accused of a broad conspiracy to block the 2020 election results in that state. The case has been delayed by allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and many experts believe it cannot move forward while Trump is president. Trump’s lawyers are also trying to get his Georgia case dismissed, citing his election win.
President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on 34 counts of falsifying business records ahead of his swearing-in on Jan. 20, a judge ruled Friday.
The decision to schedule the sentencing Jan. 10 almost certainly means Trump will be the first felon to serve as a U.S. president.
Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote in his ruling that he does not intend to sentence Trump to jail. He said he plans to order an “unconditional discharge,” a designation in New York criminal courts for a non-jail and non-probation sentence that carries no other obligations.
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to an adult-film star ahead of the 2016 election. He faced up to four years in prison, but many experts said incarceration was unlikely because of his age and his lack of prior convictions.
Since Trump’s victory at the polls in November, his lawyers have argued that anything short of dismissing the case would violate laws that protect the transition process and grant immunity from prosecution to sitting presidents.
🏛️
Follow Politics
In his decision, Merchan rejected those arguments. He called the Trump team’s claims a “novel theory” of presidential immunity that would amount to an abuse of his legal discretion.
“The Defendant has presented no valid argument to convince this Court otherwise," he said. "Binding precedent does not provide that an individual, upon becoming President, can retroactively dismiss or vacate prior criminal acts nor does it grant blanket Presidential-elect immunity. This Court is therefore forbidden from recognizing either form of immunity.”
Skip to end of carousel
Trump presidential transition
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office had floated the idea of postponing Trump’s sentencing until after his term ends in 2029. Prosecutors also suggested the judge consider abating the case against Trump while preserving the record of his conviction, a legal mechanism typically used when a defendant dies while proceedings are pending.
The district attorney’s office argued throwing out the case entirely “would go well beyond what is necessary to protect the presidency and would subvert the compelling public interest in preserving the jury’s unanimous verdict and upholding the rule of law.”
The case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial before the 2024 presidential election. His victory at the polls made it extremely unlikely he would face additional proceedings in the other cases — at least over the next four years.
Trump’s New York sentencing was originally booked for July but was postponed until September after the Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision on presidential immunity, expanding the scope of what presidential behavior is protected from prosecution. That ruling stemmed from a different Trump indictment, in federal court in D.C., which accused him of unlawfully trying to block Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
As this year’s election approached, the sentencing was delayed again, setting the stage for the latest ruling by Merchan, the trial judge.
Separately, Merchan found in a decision Dec. 16 that the high court’s immunity ruling did not nullify Trump’s case in New York because his conduct had no connection to his official duties and the crimes were launched before his first term began in 2017. He also found the defense failed during Trump’s trial to preserve some of his rights to make certain immunity arguments after the fact.
The jury deliberated just over a day before finding Trump guilty on May 30, marking the first time a former president was convicted of a crime. Evidence presented at trial showed he tried to conceal a $130,000 payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election as he faced a cascade of sex-related scandals that threatened to derail his campaign.
The money was intended to keep Daniels quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump at a charity golf event at Lake Tahoe in 2006, an episode that Trump denies ever happened. Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, paid Daniels directly. Trump reimbursed him in installments that were logged as routine legal fees and not reported as campaign expenses, according to trial testimony.
The trial in New York, where Trump was raised and spent most of his life, attracted enormous attention and helped shaped Trump’s unorthodox presidential campaign.
Trump railed daily in front of television cameras against the prosecutors and judge, rallying his base as he said he was the victim of a politically motivated effort to stop him from winning. In the final days of the trial, members of Congress and other Trump allies joined him at the court in a show of solidarity. Several of them have since been invited to join Trump’s administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...gnet-trump-stormydaniels_inline_collection_19
Jurors heard from tabloid publisher David Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump’s, about efforts by the National Enquirer to stifle negative stories about Trump during his 2016 campaign. Daniels, appearing nervous during some of her testimony, conveyed explicit details about the alleged sexual encounter in Trump’s hotel room, which at times sounded nonconsensual. She also discussed negotiations for the six-figure payment a decade later during a close presidential election.
Cohen, who is now a vehement Trump critic, described Trump’s efforts to keep the Daniels account private.
The New York case was the only one of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial before this fall’s election. Two of the others have been dismissed, and a third appears to be on pause at least until he completes his time as president.
Special counsel Jack Smith asked a judge in November to drop the election-interference case in D.C., standing by the facts of the indictment but citing Justice Department policy against the prosecution of a sitting president. A judge dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning prosecutors could in theory seek a new indictment after Trump’s second term.
Smith separately brought charges against Trump in federal court in Florida, for allegedly hoarding classified records at his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club and obstructing government efforts to recover them. But a Trump-appointed judge dismissed the case in July, saying Smith had been improperly appointed. Smith is appealing that decision but dropped Trump from the case after the election. If his appeal is successful, the Justice Department could still prosecute Trump’s two co-defendants.
Trump’s final indictment is in Georgia, where he and more than a dozen others are accused of a broad conspiracy to block the 2020 election results in that state. The case has been delayed by allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, and many experts believe it cannot move forward while Trump is president. Trump’s lawyers are also trying to get his Georgia case dismissed, citing his election win.
