By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-10 12:06:07 | Updated at 2025-01-10 15:38:48
3 hours ago
President-elect Donald Trump is set to receive a no-penalty sentence in his Manhattan hush-money case Friday — allowing him to finally appeal the criminal conviction he claims stemmed from a political “witch hunt.”
The 78-year-old will appear via a video feed at the 9:30 a.m. hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court, where Justice Juan Merchan says he’ll give him the most lenient possible sentence, an “unconditional discharge” — meaning no jail time, fine or probation.
After opting not to testify during the drama-filled trial, Trump will have the chance to address the court before the judge sentences him on his conviction of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The sentencing — happening just 10 days before he’s sworn into a second term — will cement Trump’s status as the first-ever convicted felon to serve as president.
It will also let Trump appeal the verdict.
Here’s what else you need to know.
What will happen at the sentencing?
Like any defendant in a criminal case, Trump has the option of making a statement before Merchan reads out the sentence in the dingy 15th-floor courtroom at 100 Centre St., where the trial unfolded.
Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will also have the chance to rehash the charges Trump was convicted of, while Trump’s lawyers will be asked if they’d like to speak as well.
Trump has been given the rare accommodation of appearing at the hearing remotely on video — after the judge acknowledged that attending in person could impede on his duties of preparing to be president.
Is Trump a convicted felon?
A jury of 12 Manhattanites found Trump guilty in May of 34 felony counts of fudging business records.
But some lawyers believe that someone is not technically a “convicted felon” — by the letter of the law — until a judge doles out the sentence.
Friday’s proceeding crystallizes Trump’s historic place as the first convicted felon to serve as US president — though he’ll get the chance to reverse his conviction on appeal.
What are Trump’s grounds for an appeal?
Trump’s lawyers have argued that the trial — which featured a salacious stint on the stand by Daniels — was “tainted” by evidence introduced from Trump’s time in the White House, which they say is barred by the US Supreme Court’s bombshell “presidential immunity” ruling.
The attorneys could also challenge Merchan’s ruling that prosecutors would be allowed to grill Trump — if he had taken the stand — about a litany of his past alleged misdeeds and court losses, including a jury’s May 2023 finding that it was more likely than not that he sexually abused the advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
That challenge worked in disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s case — he was able to get his sex crimes conviction reversed last year after arguing that the trial judge “erroneously” found that the DA’s office would get to ask him about a vast set of alleged misdeeds had he testified.
Can Trump still serve as president as a convicted felon?
Yes.
Trump’s felony conviction did not stop him from winning November’s election in an Electoral College landslide over Vice President Kamala Harris.
He’ll similarly not be stopped from serving as president — despite being the first convicted felon to serve that office.
What was the case about again?
The prosecution centered on allegations that Trump covered up a $130,000 payout from his fixer Michael Cohen to porn star Stormy Daniels, meant to silence her story about having sex in 2006 with the married real-estate mogul.
Jurors saw 11 invoices, 12 digital ledger entries and 11 checks to Cohen — most of which were signed by Trump — that showed the Trump Organization disguising Cohen’s repayments as phony legal services.
Falsifying business records is a misdemeanor — but doing it to cover up another crime is a felony.
That crime, Bragg’s office said, was that the payoff was part of an illegal scheme to hide sex scandals from voters before the 2016 presidential election, where Trump ended up defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Will the Trump sentencing be live-streamed?
Nope! New York’s court officials have a rule against live-streaming court proceedings, even those involving the former and future president of the United States.
But we’ll do our best to post live updates here at nypost.com.
