Donald Trump, in court in Manhattan, New York, May 30, 2024.
Getty Images via AFP
American President-elect Donald Trump, convicted in the spring by a New York criminal court of concealed payments to a porn star, will receive his sentence on January 10, which will not be prison terms, announced the judge who presided this historic trial.
Donald Trump must “appear for his sentence, following his conviction, on January 10, 2025,” ordered Judge Juan Merchan in an order on Friday, while specifying that he was not “inclined to impose a sentence of incarceration” on the The man who will become the 47th president of the United States on January 20.
Donald Trump will be able to appear in person in court, in the south of the big New York island of Manhattan, or remotely by video, but he will have to make his “preference” known by Sunday, according to the magistrate.
Found guilty of 34 counts
The judge wrote in his 18-page order that it “seems appropriate to indicate that the court would not be inclined to impose a sentence of incarceration” even if such a “sentence is incurred in the conviction.”
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 of hidden payments to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, made just before the presidential election of 2016, which he won.
Sentencing postponed several times
According to the courts, this woman, real name Stephanie Clifford, was hiding a brief sexual encounter in 2006 while Donald Trump was married to Melania. The person concerned denies any sexual relationship with Stormy Daniels.
After months of appeals and the election won on November 5, the Trump camp failed to overturn this historic verdict on the basis of presidential immunity which was extended on July 1 by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Under enormous political pressure, Judge Merchan had postponed the sentencing several times since May 30, especially since the presidential victory.
An “illegitimate political attack”
A spokesperson for Donald Trump denounced Friday an “attack” on presidential immunity. This decision “is a direct attack on the Supreme Court’s decision regarding presidential immunity,” said spokesperson Steven Cheung in a statement sent to AFP, referring to the decision of the American High Court which recognized in July a very broad presumption of immunity for the President of the United States.
Donald Trump denounced Friday an “illegitimate political attack”. “This illegitimate political attack is nothing but a charade,” the American president-elect wrote on his Truth Social network.
(afp)
