Judge Juan Merchan ruled on Friday that US President-elect Donald Trump must appear in court on January 10 to hear the sentence on the alleged bribery case against former adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as ‘Stormy Daniels’.
Merchan’s ruling puts an end to two months of speculation and maneuvering between Trump’s lawyers and the US Justice Department after the tycoon won the presidential elections last November. Trump will take office on January 20, ten days before the sentencing.
Trump was convicted in April on a total of 34 charges, when he was not even confirmed as an official candidate for the White House. The judge, who postponed indefinitely the hearing in which it will be known whether he will finally be sentenced to prison, accused him of falsifying documents to hide a payment of 130,000 dollars to ‘Stormy Daniels’, whom he paid so that she would not speak about an alleged extramarital relationship.
The Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have immunity from prosecution for official acts, pointing out that evidence related to Trump’s work as president could not be used in the trial. The tycoon’s defense argued that the ruling of the highest court in the country meant that the conviction should be annulled and the accusation dismissed, but Merchan said that immunity does not affect this case.
Trump’s conviction carries the possibility of up to four years in prison, which could however be replaced by a wide range of alternatives to imprisonment ranging from probation to the payment of fines.
