‘Unprecedented’: Hush money judge expected to get Trump sentencing demand on historic day

Prosecutors in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial were expected Monday to recommend how long the MAGA leader should serve in prison.

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, will make its suggestion to Judge Juan Merchan, though the sentence recommendation may be kept secret until Trump is sentenced July 11, The New York Times reported. Trump could face up to four years in prison, but could also instead receive probation. The judge does not have to sentence him to prison, and he could also delay Trump’s prison sentence as far out as after a possible second presidential term, according to The Times.

Jurors convicted Trump in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records after prosecutors said he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up a tryst heading into the 2016 election.

Trump faces four criminal cases in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C. The New York case is likely to be the only one decided before the 2024 election. Merchan last week loosened his gag order allowing Trump to publicly discuss witnesses in the historic New York City trial that concluded with the first-ever criminal conviction of a former United States president.

Trump is still barred from discussing prosecutors and others involved in the case. Trump’s other criminal cases have faced major delays, and Monday’s Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity likely gave him substantial shielding from prosecution for his presidential acts. The Times dubbed Merchan’s decision an “unprecedented conundrum.”