US President-elect Trump faces sentencing in hush-money case

Donald Trump is set to be sentenced after his conviction for paying hush money to a porn star. The president-elect had sought to halt the hearing in view of his inauguration in 10 days' time.

The New York state court is to hand a sentence on Friday to US President-elect Donald Trump for his criminal conviction related to a payment of hush money to a porn star over an alleged sexual encounter.

Trump, 78, who claims the charges were politically motivated, is expected to appear virtually at the hearing, the culmination of the first-ever criminal case brought against a US president in the history of the country.

He will have the chance to speak.

No jail sentence likely

The sentencing comes after the US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a last-minute bid to stop the hearing by Trump, who is to be sworn into his country's highest office on January 20.

The judge who oversaw the six-week trial last year, Juan Merchan, has indicated that he does not plan to give Trump a jail sentence or a fine.

But even the granting of an unconditional discharge would mean Trump's permanent record remains stained by a judgment of guilt.

Whatever the outcome, Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the US presidency.

Late on Thursday, hours before the sentence was to be imposed, Trump wrote on his social media platform that he would appeal the case and was confident of winning.

What was Trump's conviction?

The Republican Trump, a billionaire businessman turned politician, was charged in March 2023 by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, with a cover-up related to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Trump came before a Manhattan court to answer 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 (€126,181) sum paid to Daniels by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

The money was allegedly paid to secure her silence before the 2016 election — which Trump won — about an alleged sexual encounter she had with him in 2006.

Trump has denied the incident and argued that the case, along with three other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits related to other accusations, was a bid by his political opponents to weaponize the justice system against him.

However, the jury found him guilty on all 34 counts on May 30.

Falsification of business records is punishable by up to four years in prison.

Other cases dropped

The hush-money case has been the only criminal case against Trump to come to trial, with his lawyers launching a barrage of legal challenges.

Federal prosecutors have wound down two cases in which Trump is accused of of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.

That decision was made in view of the policy of the Justice Department against prosecuting a sitting president, which Trump is soon again to be.

The remaining state case, brought in the southern state Georgia over efforts to reverse the 2020 election results in that state, has been suspended after a court in December disqualified the lead prosecutor, Fani Willis.

Trump has also faced civil cases, among other things being found liable for sexual abuse in two civil defamation suits brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll. She was awarded $88.4 million (€83.6 million) total in damages.

Trump has appealed both verdicts.

tj/lo (Reuters, AP, AFP)