New York judge sets date of Trump's sentencing in hush money case

Washington, Jan 4
Juan Merchan, a New York judge presiding over US President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case, set January 10 as the date of sentencing for the case.

The sentencing would take place at 9:30 in the morning at a courthouse in Lower Manhattan, according to a decision by the judge on Friday.

Merchan ordered Trump to appear at his sentencing in person or virtually, with preference made no later than January 5, reports Xinhua news agency.

There is no legal impediment to the sentencing, and bringing finality to this matter would serve the interests of the jury, defendant and plaintiff, according to the decision.

It's less desirable to hold sentencing until Trump completes his second term of presidency than imposing sentence prior to January 20, when Trump is scheduled to take office as US President, said the judge.

Earlier, Merchan agreed to indefinitely postpone the sentencing, which was scheduled on November 26, 2024.

The state judge in the hush money case against President-Elect Donald Trump had let his conviction stand, rejecting his argument that a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity applied to the case.

Merchan's ruling casts the shadow of a criminal conviction over Trump as he prepares to assume the presidency next month. The judge said that the Supreme Court ruling applied only to his official actions and not to his personal conduct.

The judge, however, had earlier agreed to indefinitely postpone the sentencing in the case Trump was convicted of falsifying business records because the hush money payments to a porn star were shown as legal expenses.

The payments had been made through his lawyer at the time to get the porn star to remain silent about her claims of a tryst with him and each of the cheques were shown as separate offences giving the impression that Trump had been convicted of 34 crimes.

The case was brought by a local prosecutor, who under the New York system, was elected on a Democratic Party ticket.

In May 2024, a jury in New York found Trump guilty of all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a bid to hide hush money payments to a porn star in 2016, and the initial date of sentencing was July 11, 2024.