New York judge schedules Trump's business fraud sentencing hearing

New York acting Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan on Friday ordered President-elect Donald Trump to appear for sentencing on Jan. 10. Last year, a Manhattan jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Merchan rejected a motion by Trump’s attorneys asking him to dismiss the indictment against the president-elect and vacate the jury’s conviction of him.

Has Merchan given any indication what Trump’s sentence could be? Merchan said he was not legally allowed to make any statements about what sentence he would impose until after he heard arguments from both sides at the sentencing hearing next week. Nonetheless, he did say he was not inclined to incarcerate Trump, who is scheduled to take office later this month. Merchan added that prosecutors are not asking him to incarcerate the president-elect, either.

How is Merchan hoping to deal with Trump’s upcoming term in the White House? Merchan said he’d considered and rejected a motion made by prosecutors to preserve the jury verdict and freeze the legal proceedings until after Trump left office in 2029. He decided against freezing the proceedings because they would deny Trump the chance to properly appeal his conviction and sentence. Merchan said he considered the possibility of giving Trump a sentence before he takes office that he could then fulfill after he leaves the White House. While Merchan said he doesn’t want to impose such a sentence, he acknowledged he may have to.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Sift about how Trump’s lawyers last month asked Merchan to dismiss the conviction against the president-elect.