A judge on Friday set US president Donald Trump's sentencing in his money laundering case for January 10 – just over a week before he is scheduled to return to the White House – but promised not to send him to prison.
Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial, indicated in a written decision that he would sentence the former and future president to what is known as an conditional discharge, in which a case is dismissed if a defendant avoids retrial.
The development marks another turning point in the single case.
Jury Trump to be convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a US$130,000 hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump denies any wrongdoing.
The allegations included a scheme to conceal a payment to Daniels in the final days of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign to keep her from publicizing her candidacy against him. sex with the then married businessman years earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them.
After Trump's election on Nov. 5, Merchan suspended the case and postponed sentencing indefinitely so the defense and prosecution could assess the future of the case.
Trump's lawyers urged Merchan to be fired. They said it would otherwise be an unconstitutional “infringement” on the incoming president's ability to run the country.
Prosecutors conceded that there should be accommodation for the incoming president, but insisted that the conviction should stand.
They proposed several options, such as freezing the case during his term or guaranteeing him a sentence without prison. They also recommended closing the case while formally noting both his conviction and his indefinite plea — an idea drawn from what some state courts do when criminal defendants die while pleading their cases.
Trump takes office on January 20.
