Cartoon by Clay Bennett

What We Know About Trump’s Sentencing

By Kate Christobek and Ben Protess

The New York Times: In May, Donald J. Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of a crime when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of 34 felonies.

Now, another unprecedented moment is expected Friday: Mr. Trump will become the first former, and future, president to be sentenced for a crime.

Justice Juan M. Merchan of Manhattan Supreme Court has indicated that he plans to give Mr. Trump an unconditional discharge, a lenient sentence that is rare for defendants convicted in Manhattan on the same charges as Mr. Trump. Here are some answers to key questions about his sentencing:

What crimes was he convicted of?

Mr. Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges stem from a $130,000 hush-money payment that Mr. Trump’s fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made to the porn star Stormy Daniels in the days leading up to the 2016 election, suppressing a story of a sexual liaison that she said she had with Mr. Trump.

Prosecutors argued that Mr. Trump had directed Mr. Cohen to make the payment — and had then covered it up through a series of reimbursements falsely classified as ordinary legal expenses. Each of the 34 counts corresponds to an invoice, check or ledger related to these repayments.

Former President Donald J. Trump faced 34 felony charges of falsifying business records, related to the reimbursement of hush money paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels in order to cover up a sex scandal around the 2016 presidential election.

Who is the judge sentencing Trump?

Justice Merchan is a veteran Manhattan judge who is known to be tough on white-collar crimes. During the trial, the drama-averse judge was the subject of repeat attacks by Mr. Trump, who accused him of being “biased” and “corrupt.”

At the request of prosecutors, the judge imposed a gag order prohibiting Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors. And when Mr. Trump expanded his attacks to include Justice Merchan’s daughter, a Democratic strategist, the judge revised the gag order to protect his own family — and the family members of prosecutors — from Mr. Trump’s vitriol.

What punishment is Trump likely to receive?

In an 18-page decision released earlier this month, Justice Merchan said that he planned to give Mr. Trump a so-called unconditional discharge.

Unlike a conditional discharge, which requires defendants to meet certain conditions like maintaining employment or paying restitution, an unconditional discharge has no such requirements. In his decision, Justice Merchan wrote that the sentence “appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality.”

Still, the sentence would cement Mr. Trump’s status as a felon before his inauguration.

Mr. Trump had originally faced up to four years in prison, and it’s possible that he would have received a different sentence had he not been elected president.

A New York Times analysis of sentencing outcomes showed that since 2014, a third of defendants convicted of falsifying business records in the first degree in Manhattan were sentenced to jail time of less than a year. Other defendants received prison time — more than a year behind bars — or were sentenced to probation, conditional discharges, community service or fines.

None of the other defendants in the cases examined received an unconditional discharge >>>