US President-elect Donald Trump faces sentencing on hush money felony charges - What to expect?
US President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on Friday for fudging business records related to a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. He may receive a no-penalty sentence, avoiding jail time, probation, or fines, and will appear via video from Mar-a-Lago.
US President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on Friday — despite repeated efforts to stall the process until he takes office on January 20. The Republican leader was convicted last year for fudging business records after making a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump will be the first convicted felon to hold the Oval Office — and currently faces a slim possibility of spending his term in prison.
Trump is unlikely to face any penalties in the case ahead of his Presidential inauguration on January 20. Judge Juan M. Merchan has already indicated plans for a ‘no-penalty sentence’ — otherwise called an unconditional discharge — and reportedly faces no opposition from prosecutors. The decision — rare in a criminal case — will mean no jail time, no probation and no fines for Trump.
What time is Trump's sentencing?
The sentencing is set for 9:30 am on Friday.
The incoming POTUS is expected to appear by video from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and will be given an opportunity to speak. Trump has also repeatedly protested his innocence in the case and insists that he is facing a witch-hunt.
“I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge…I was hiding nothing,” he wrote on Truth Social last week.
What exactly is the case?
Trump was convicted in May 2024 on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The jury found that he falsified records kept by his company to hide the purpose of reimbursements to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who had made a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 campaign to silence her claim of an extramarital sexual encounter.
Lawyers for the Republican leader have made extensive attempts to stall the case at every turn following his May 2024 conviction. Efforts have been made to try and get the conviction overturned, have the case dismissed or at ensure that the sentencing was postponed.
The US Supreme Court cleared the way for sentencing earlier this week after multiple delays. Trump had cited presidential immunity and argued that it would be a distraction to his presidential transition and undermine his standing as a world leader during his second term in office.
(With inputs from agencies)
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First Published:10 Jan 2025, 07:27 PM IST
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