Trump's sentencing is set for 10 January

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

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 10 January 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.