Found guilty at the end of May, the president-elect will be pronounced on January 10 the content of his conviction in the case which earned him a historic conviction from the New York justice system. However, he should escape a prison sentence.
Invested on January 20, Donald Trump will then return to the White House as the first criminal convicted in American presidential history. Re-elected, but found guilty in the spring by a New York criminal court of hidden payments to a porn star, he will know ten days earlier the content of the sentence, which should not be coercive, announced judge Juan Merchan, who had presided over this historic trial, thus ruling out the possibility of a prison sentence.
“Following his conviction”, Trump must “appear for sentencing on January 10, 2025”, ordered the magistrate in an order made public on the evening of Friday January 3, while specifying that he was not “inclined to impose a sentence of incarceration” to the former and future president of the United States, although such a sentence is “incurred in the conviction”. Trump will be able to appear in person at the lower Manhattan court, or remotely by video. This decision “is a direct attack on the Supreme Court’s decision regarding immunity” presidential election, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung immediately protested in a statement. Trump himself called the decision “illegitimate political attack” and of “masquerade”.
On May 30, Donald Trump, 45th American president, was the first former tenant of the White House to be criminally convicted in the history of the country. The jury of the Manhattan court, dependent on the local justice of the State of New York, had found him guilty of 34 counts for hidden payments to a star and director of pornographic films, Stormy Daniels, made just before the 2016 presidential election, which he won. According to the courts, this woman, Stephanie Clifford by her marital status, was hiding a brief sexual adventure in 2006 when Donald Trump was married to Melania, and the future First Lady had just given birth to their son. The person concerned has denied for years and until today any sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels.
After months of dilatory appeals and the election won on November 5, the Trump camp tried without success to overturn this historic verdict on the basis of presidential immunity which was extended on July 1 by a decision of the Court supreme of the United States. Under considerable political pressure, Judge Merchan had postponed the sentencing several times since the end of May, first beyond the ballot and then even more so since the victory of the Republican candidate in the presidential ballot on November 5.
If his re-election put an end to his troubles with the criminal justice system, the latter nevertheless saw a New York appeals court maintain a civil judgment at the beginning of the week which had found him responsible for sexual assault and defamation against the author E. Jean Carroll, confirming a sentence of $5 million fine.
Updated Saturday January 4 at 8:11 a.m. with Trump's reaction
