Trump Hush Money Sentencing Expected to be No Penalty
President-elect Donald Trump Faces Sentencing Friday
In a singular moment in U.S. history, President-elect Donald Trump faces sentencing Friday for his New York hush money conviction after the nation’s highest court refused to intervene.
Unconditional Discharge Expected
With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Judge Juan M. Merchan has indicated he plans a no-penalty sentence called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors aren’t opposing it. That would mean no jail time, no probation, and no fines would be imposed, but nothing is final until Friday’s proceeding is done.
The Case Against Trump
The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business’ records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.
Trump’s Defense
Trump, who is appearing by video from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, will have the opportunity to speak. He has pilloried the case, the only one of his four criminal indictments that has gone to trial, and possibly the only one that ever will. Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed, or at least the sentencing postponed.
Conclusion
Regardless of the outcome, Trump, a Republican, will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency. The judge has indicated that he plans the unconditional discharge partly to avoid complicated constitutional issues that would arise if he imposed a penalty that overlapped with Trump’s presidency.
FAQs
* What is the expected sentence for Trump?
+ An unconditional discharge, which means no jail time, no probation, and no fines would be imposed.
* What is the hush money case about?
+ Trump was accused of fudging his business’ records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
* What is Trump’s defense?
+ Trump has denied the allegations and contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.
* What is the significance of this case?
+ Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.
