The US President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on January 10 in the hush money case only before his return to the White House. Judge Juan Merchan found Trump eligible for conditional discharge which meant he would not go to jail if he did not get rearrested again. It means that Trump can attend the sentencing physically or through a video conference.
The case revolves around a $130000 payment made by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the presidential campaign in 2016. Daniels said the money was to keep her from talking about her relationship with the future president, which Trump has denied.
In a campaign finance case last year May, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records relating to the payment which also violated state election laws. The prosecutors also accused Trump of inflating the reimbursements made to Cohen as legal fees. In this respect, it is worth bearing in mind that while payments to women to keep mum is not unlawful, the act of both candidates misrepresenting the payments as non existent was envisaged by the state law as unlawful.
Nonetheless, the jury conviction, the presiding judge, Merchan suggested no prison term but the prosecutors reduced it stating that that incarcerations are not feasible. But the sentencing means Trump will return to the White House as a felon, and that is the harshest implication.
He has vociferously rejected the charges calling them a “fraudulent process”. His legal team would appeal, saying that the case breaches the immunity of the president. The decision was described by Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, as contradicting the Supreme Court precedent governing immunity for former presidents.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said that Trump engaged in activities that were a crime under state law. The sentencing is the latest indication of the legal problems awaiting Trump as he gears up to continue his presidency, an issue that raises the issue of prosecution of former and serving officials.
Before looking at his legal process situations, the January 10 sentencing will be a turning point in his political and personal life.
