Trump Sentencing Approaches Following Supreme Court Denial in Hush Money Case

New York, Jan 10 (NationPress) President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with a local judge on Friday regarding the hush money case after the Supreme Court dismissed his emergency appeal aimed at halting the criminal proceedings.

A divided court announced on Thursday evening that the sentencing would not disrupt his duties as the effect on his responsibilities “is relatively insubstantial,” thus allowing the process to continue.

Judge Juan Merchan has suggested that he will not impose a prison sentence on Trump, who was found guilty by a jury of business fraud for misclassifying payments made to a porn star as legal fees.

Additionally, he permitted Trump to participate remotely and indicated that he would issue a "conditional discharge", which would entail no punishment other than labeling him a convicted criminal.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies attempted to leverage the conviction, emphasizing it in their campaign.

However, voters overlooked this and chose Trump, dismissing her, making the sentencing a final opportunity to embarrass him just 10 days before he assumes office.

Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, made a payment of $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to secure her silence regarding an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

Trump reimbursed Cohen, with the payments recorded as legal expenses, which the prosecutor argued constituted fraudulent activity, a claim accepted by the jury.

Trump has denied the allegations of an affair and stated that the payment was made to protect his family from embarrassment.

Local prosecutor Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, categorized each of the checks he issued as distinct criminal offenses, inflating the total convictions to 34.

The three liberal justices of the Supreme Court were joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett in the majority ruling, which concluded with a 5 to 4 decision.

Trump expressed a conciliatory tone towards the Supreme Court justices while criticizing Merchan.

On Truth Social, he stated, “I appreciate the time and effort of the United States Supreme Court in trying to remedy the great injustice done to me by the highly conflicted ‘Acting Justice’, who should not have been allowed to try this case.”

He labeled Merchan a “highly political and corrupt judge” and asserted that the justice system had been weaponized against him.

The judge, along with the state appeals court, dismissed Trump's assertion that an earlier Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity from prosecution was applicable to him.

They maintained that the ruling did not pertain to this case as it involved personal matters predating his presidency.

One of the dissenting justices, Samuel Alito, had a conversation with Trump on Tuesday, stirring controversy.

Alito stated that they did not discuss the case but he had provided a job reference for a former law clerk.