NY judge says Trump will face no penalties in his criminal hush money case but upholds conviction

CNN

By Kara Scannell, Paula Reid and Tierney Sneed, CNN

(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump will face no legal penalties for his conviction in the hush money case, a New York judge ruled Friday.

Judge Juan Merchan, however, upheld Trump’s conviction in the case, rejecting the president-elect’s effort to throw out the jury’s verdict because of his reelection in November. This ensures that Trump will be the first convicted felon to become president.

Merchan set sentencing for January 10, but indicated the case is essentially over. The court hearing will be held 10 days before Trump is inaugurated for a second term – a reminder of the prominence that his legal issues have played in his return to power in Washington.

Merchan in his ruling referenced Trump’s plans to appeal and said that imposing no penalty would bring “finality” to the case while allowing Trump to continue pursuing an appeal of the conviction. Such an appeal will lack urgency since Trump will face no punishment that risks interfering with his duties as president.

“A sentence of an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options,” Merchan wrote.

The judge also said that he would allow Trump to appear to the sentencing virtually, to assuage the president elect’s concerns about the “mental and physical demands during this transition period.”

“It was a smart move by Judge Merchan to announce in advance that he is going to impose no punishment, and hold the proceeding remotely, because that undermines any effort by Trump’s team to argue in federal court that sentencing imposes some major burden,” said CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said.

In his ruling Friday, Merchan repeatedly referenced internal US Justice Department opinions – which are not binding in court, but has applied to the federal government’s conduct – that say that a sitting president cannot be subject to prosecution. He said he considered the points made by the DOJ in those opinions and raised by Trump in his arguments to the New York court. and that he had found that those concerns did not justify putting off the sentence.

Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records over payments to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to reimburse a $130,000 hush money payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, in order to keep her from speaking out about an alleged affair before the 2016 election. (Trump has denied the affair.)

Trump was first set to be sentenced in July

Trump was scheduled to be sentenced in July, but that was postponed twice as a result of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.

Trump’s lawyers initially pushed to dismiss Trump’s conviction on the basis of the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity, arguing that prosecutors’ relied on evidence from Trump’s official conduct in the White House. After the election, Trump’s lawyers filed a new motion to dismiss the case, arguing that his status as president was a “legal impediment” to further criminal proceedings based on both the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity doctrine and the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause that federal law takes precedence over state law.

Last month, Merchan said the conviction should not be tossed out because of the high court’s July ruling. In that decision, Merchan said that the Supreme Court ruling that Trump should receive broad immunity for official acts during his time in office did not mean the conviction should be dismissed, ruling that the evidence presented by the Manhattan district attorney’s office was not related to Trump’s official conduct as president.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had argued that Trump’s conviction should be upheld. The district attorney’s office said in legal filings that the sentence could be delayed or modified as a result of Trump’s reelection, but that dismissing a jury’s conviction would be an “extreme remedy” that was unwarranted. A spokesperson for the office declined to comment Friday.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung called the Friday ruling is a “direct violation” of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.

“President Trump must be allowed to continue the presidential transition process and to execute the vital duties of the presidency, unobstructed by the remains of this or any remnants of the Witch Hunts. There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue fighting against these hoaxes until they are all dead,” Cheung said.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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