Trump Sentenced: Ex-President Will Face Justice Before Inauguration
In a landmark decision, Judge Juan M. Merchán has set the sentencing date for former President Donald Trump for January 10, 2025, just over a week before he is scheduled to return to the White House. This development comes after Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in a case involving a payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her silent about an alleged affair.
Merchán, a judge of Colombian origin who presided over the trial, ruled out imprisonment for Trump. However, this verdict makes Trump the first president in U.S. history to assume office while facing serious criminal charges. The judge rejected Trump’s proposal to dismiss the charges due to presidential immunity and his imminent return to the White House. Merchán stated that he found "no legal impediment" to sentence Trump and that it was his duty to do so before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
In May 2024, Trump was convicted for his alleged role in a scheme to hide a payment made to Daniels. Prosecutors argued that Trump and his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, falsified records to conceal the true purpose of the payment. Trump maintains that his actions were lawful and that Daniels’ claims are false.
Trump’s election in November 2024 led Judge Merchán to postpone sentencing indefinitely while the defense and prosecution weighed in on the case’s future. Trump’s lawyers argued that sentencing would disrupt his ability to govern, while prosecutors acknowledged that accommodations should be made but insisted on maintaining the conviction.
The judge, in his written decision, stated that he would impose "conditional discharge," a sentence in which the case is dismissed if the accused avoids further arrests. This is a rare move in high-profile cases but highlights the extraordinary nature of Trump’s situation.
Trump’s conviction left him facing potential penalties ranging from a fine to four years in prison. The case centered on how Trump justified reimbursing Cohen for the payment to Daniels. Cohen initially paid Daniels using his own funds and later received reimbursement from Trump’s company, which was recorded as legal expenses. Trump, who was president at the time, signed most of the reimbursement checks himself.
Both sides in the case have agreed that some accommodations need to be made due to Trump’s upcoming presidential term. However, they have proposed different solutions, such as freezing the case during his presidency or guaranteeing a sentence without imprisonment. One novel suggestion is to close the case while maintaining the conviction and noting the pending appeal, an approach inspired by some state courts’ handling of cases involving defendants who die while appealing their convictions.
Trump, who will be the first former president to assume office while convicted of a crime, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. He has dismissed the conviction as the result of a "rigged and shameful" "witch hunt" by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
Before his re-election, Trump’s lawyers attempted to overturn his conviction based on a July 2024 Supreme Court decision granting presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution. That petition was still pending when Trump’s election raised new legal questions.
Trump has also urged Judge Merchán to nullify the conviction and attempted to transfer the case to a federal court, where he could invoke presidential immunity. A federal judge repeatedly refused, but Trump appealed the decision. The Daniels hush-money case was the only one of the four criminal cases against Trump to go to trial.
Since Trump’s re-election, Special Counsel Jack Smith has closed his two federal cases. One involved Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, while the other centered on his alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
As Trump prepares to return to the White House, his legal saga is far from over. The sentencing on January 10, 2025, will be a critical moment in this ongoing drama, as the judicial system seeks to balance the pursuit of justice with the unique challenges posed by the impending presidency.
