Faced with the never-before-seen dilemma of how, when, or even whether to sentence a former and future U.S. president, the judge in President-elect Donald Trump's hush-money case made a dramatic decision that could nevertheless bring the case to a muted end.
In a ruling Friday, Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan scheduled the sentencing for 10 days before Trump's inauguration, but the judge indicated that he's leaning toward a sentence that would amount to just closing the case without any real punishment.
He said Trump could attend the January 10 proceeding remotely because of his transition duties. Still, that would leave Trump headed back to the White House with a felony conviction.
Will it come to that? Trump wants the conviction thrown out and the case dismissed, and communications director Steven Cheung said the president-elect will "keep fighting." But it's tough to predict just what will unfold in this unprecedented, unpredictable case.
Why is Trump awaiting sentencing?
Trump was convicted in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying his business' records. They pertained to a $130,000 payment, made through his former personal lawyer in 2016, to keep porn actor Stormy Daniels from publicizing her story of having had sex with Trump a decade earlier. He denies her claim and says he's done nothing wrong.
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