According to the judge, the Republican will not face legal penalties in the case involving payment to Stormy Daniels, just a “conditional release”
Judge Juan Merchan, of the New York Supreme Court, upheld the conviction of the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump (Republican), for falsifying business records. The magistrate scheduled the sentencing for January 10, 10 days before the presidential inauguration.
In the ruling, the judge said Trump will not face legal penalties, such as possible prison time. Merchan plans just one “conditional release”which gives the Republican no penalty but lists him as a convicted felon.
The sentence will be announced after Trump’s in May on 34 charges related to a financial deal with porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. “conditional release”Trump will become the first president convicted of a crime to take office.
The judge’s efforts by Trump’s defense to overturn the jury’s verdict. The defense’s main argument was the Republican’s re-election in November. According to the legal team, a sentence would violate laws that protect the transition process and grant immunity from persecution to sitting presidents.
Merchan classified these allegations as a “new theory” of presidential immunity, which would constitute an abuse of his legal discretion.
“Binding precedent does not provide that an individual, upon becoming president, can retroactively reject or nullify prior criminal acts, nor does it grant blanket immunity to the president-elect. This Court is, therefore, prohibited from recognizing any form of immunity,” said the judge.
Trump’s conviction stemmed from efforts to conceal a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in order to keep an alleged 2006 extramarital affair secret.
The payment would have been made by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, and recorded as routine legal expenses, not reported as campaign expenses, according to trial testimony.
The case was the only one of the 4 criminal cases against Trump to go to trial before the 2024 presidential elections. During the trial, the Republican daily criticized prosecutors and the judge and mobilized his base of supporters by declaring himself the victim of a politically motivated effort to prevent him from winning the vote.
