NY Judge sets Jan. 10 sentencing for Trump in hush money case

The New York judge presiding over President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case has set sentencing for January 10, falling 10 days before his White House inauguration.

Judge Juan Merchan also said on Friday that he was not inclined to impose jail time on the former president.

The development nevertheless leaves Trump on course to be the first president to take office convicted of felony crimes.

Merchan, who presided over Trump's trial, signaled in a written decision that he'd sentence the former and future president to what's known as a conditional discharge, in which a case is closed without jail time, a fine or probation.

Merchan rejected Trump's push to dismiss the verdict and throw out the case on presidential immunity grounds and because of his impending return to the White House.

The judge said he found "no legal impediment to sentencing" Trump and that it was "incumbent" on him to sentence Trump prior to his swearing in on January 20.

"Only by bringing finality to this matter" will the interests of justice be served, Merchan wrote.

Merchan urged to toss case

Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

They involved an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to an adult movie actress Stormy Daniels in the last weeks of Trump's first campaign in 2016.

The payout was made to keep her from publicising claims she'd had unlawful relations with the married Trump years earlier.

Trump says that her story is false and that he did nothing wrong.

After Trump's November 5 election, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed the sentencing so the defence and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.

Trump's lawyers urged Merchan to toss it. They said it would otherwise pose unconstitutional "disruptions" to the incoming president's ability to run the country.

Prosecutors acknowledged there should be some accommodation for his upcoming presidency, but they insisted the conviction should stand.