Donald Trump, the U.S. President-elect, is set to be sentenced on 10th January in New York, just ten days before his inauguration as President of the United States.
On Friday, 3rd January 2025, Judge Juan Merchan of New York indicated he was unlikely to impose a prison sentence. He noted that if sentencing could not occur before Trump took office, proceedings might need to be delayed until after his presidential term.
In May, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records, officially making him a convicted felon. Last month, Judge Merchan ruled that Trump is not immune from conviction in this case, despite his position. Proceedings had been put on hold to allow Trump’s legal team time to argue for the case’s dismissal.
The Trump-Vance transition team called the legal proceedings a “witch hunt.” Steven Cheung, Trump’s spokesperson, stated, “There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will keep fighting against these hoaxes until they are all defeated.”
In May, after deliberating for about a day and a half, a jury in New York unanimously found that Trump falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress, during the 2016 election campaign. Following the verdict, Trump participated in a pre-sentencing interview with the New York City Department of Probation. Prosecutors and Trump’s legal team submitted their sentencing recommendations last month, though these have not been made public.
Trump has since focused on fundraising, using the conviction as a campaign tool. Within 24 hours of the verdict, his team reported raising millions of dollars. Trump and his lawyers have also pledged to appeal the conviction, which could take years to resolve.
During the trial, which lasted about four weeks, the jury heard from 22 witnesses and reviewed evidence such as phone records, invoices, and payments made to Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer. Cohen had paid Daniels to ensure her silence about an alleged affair with Trump.
The payments, recorded as legal services, were not contested. Prosecutors, however, argued that Trump falsified these records to commit another crime — breaching New York election law, which prohibits conspiring to influence elections through unlawful means. Jurors considered whether these means included violating federal election law, falsifying tax returns, or falsifying other business records.
The guilty verdict came over a year after a grand jury indicted Trump on 30 March 2023, marking the first time a former or sitting U.S. president faced criminal charges.
