Trump Set for Sentencing in Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case After Supreme Court Ruling

Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, is scheduled to be sentenced on Friday in a Manhattan court for his criminal conviction related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. This marks a historic moment, as Trump is the first former U.S. president to face a criminal conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a narrow 5-4 decision, rejected Trump’s last-minute appeal to delay the sentencing, clearing the way for the proceedings just ten days before his January 20 inauguration. The court ruled that the sentencing would not significantly burden his responsibilities as President-elect and permitted him to attend virtually.

The case stems from payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to suppress Daniels’ claims of an alleged affair with Trump, which he denies. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, with prosecutors arguing the payments were part of a scheme to influence the election. The court found that the reimbursements to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged the payments, were misrecorded as legal expenses in violation of state election law. A conditional discharge is expected, meaning the case could be dismissed if Trump avoids further legal issues, and incarceration is not anticipated.

Trump reacted strongly to the Supreme Court decision, asserting his innocence on his social media platform, Truth Social. He described the charges as “made-up” and the case as a politically motivated “weaponization” of the justice system. He vowed to appeal the conviction, expressing confidence that “justice will prevail,” and maintained that this will not distract him from his mission to “unite and make America great again.”

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