Trump to face sentence for New York hush-money case : NPR

After months of legal twists and turns, Donald Trump’s most active criminal case has finally come to a conclusion.

The former and future president is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday for sentencing on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments to adult film stars.

President Trump on Thursday exhausted his last legal gambit to block the sentencing after the Supreme Court narrowly refused to intervene.

The hearing comes just 10 days before Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. He had argued that the sentence would impede his ability to govern.

With this in mind, New York Judge Juan Marchan indicated that he would not sentence Trump to prison or even probation, but instead would likely offer him “unconditional release.” That means the next president cannot do anything other than convict. It will be on his record.

Prosecutors have indicated that the hearing could be short, less than an hour, and that Mr. Trump is expected to appear virtually.

“There’s nothing else the defendant has to do, so it’s the most restrictive thing in terms of potentially interfering with the next president’s inauguration in some way,” said Anna Kominski, director of the New York Criminal Defense Clinic. It’s loose,” he said. The law school stated the expected sentence of unconditional release.

“It certainly makes sense for this case to have some closure, especially as he assumes the role of president, and we want to move forward as a country and continue to do so for the next four years without this judgment being put on hold.” “You want to be able to look forward to it,” Kominsky said. “There has to be an end.”

Of course, Trump’s legal team will likely appeal the conviction and sentence again, as they have in the past through the legal process. Appeals could last years.

Since Trump was convicted in May, Marchand has delayed sentencing several times, in part to avoid any perception of political bias ahead of Election Day, and to discuss presidential immunity issues. This includes allowing Trump to claim immunity in the case based on the Supreme Court’s ruling. .

Machan ultimately denied the immunity claims and the dismissal, paving the way for Friday’s hearing.

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In May, Trump became the first former or sitting US president to be criminally charged and convicted.

A Manhattan state court jury heard from 22 witnesses during nearly a month of testimony in Manhattan criminal court. Jurors also considered other evidence. Primarily, the documents include phone records, invoices and checks to Michael Cohen, once a loyal “fixer” to President Trump. Michael Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with the former president.

After about a day and a half of deliberations, the 12 jurors found that President Trump had falsified business records to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels to influence the 2016 presidential election. It was announced that there was unanimous agreement that the

However, the conviction appears to have had little impact on Trump’s popularity and eventual electoral victory in the 2024 presidential election. He uses courtroom drama to raise donations for his campaign, and legal costs are mounting.

Within 24 hours of the conviction, the Trump campaign boasted that it had raised millions of dollars.

And in the November election, 49% of U.S. voters ultimately chose to return Trump to the White House.