President-elect Donald Trump has recently asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the New York hush money case as of Jan. 8. The original date for the trial was set for July 11, 2024, but Trump’s lawyers requested to push back the case. This time, the trial was set for Sept. 18, 2024, so as not to interfere with the presidential campaign. After Trump was officially elected, a court date of Nov. 26 was set, but later thrown out when the prosecution and defense teams debated moving forward with the case at all. In the most recent pushback set for Jan. 10, Trump had argued that he was immune to prosecution after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that the president should be exempt from all prosecution or sentencing so long as the president was in office. Although this ruling was established, Judge Juan Merchan has concluded that because Trump is not currently in office, he is not subject to immunity.
The sentencing is over 34 counts of falsifying business records after Trump allegedly had a sexual encounter with adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2006 and paid her $130,000 to keep quiet leading up to the 2016 election. While hush money is not illegal in itself, purposefully and improperly recording the transaction is. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office claims Trump wrote off the payment as legal payments, with which he had paid his lawyer involved with the incident. The presiding judge, Judge Merchan, had said earlier this year that Trump could appear virtually or in person and signaled he would spare Trump from jail time and instead give him an unconditional discharge (BBC News, 2025). An unconditional discharge means that the defendant has been found guilty of committing a crime, but no punishment should be administered. In response to the Jan. 10 trial not being dropped, opinions vary among politicians and citizens alike. Attorney Mike Davis recently posted on X, saying, “The American people have rendered their verdict and elected President Trump. They saw through the bogus charges brought against him by corrupt Manhattan DA Alvin Brag and Judge Juan Merchan. With the inauguration just two weeks out, this lawfare must end.” Some citizens have also taken action regarding his trial; public influencer Harry Sisson also posted on X, pushing back against Trump’s pleas for dismissal: “A federal appeals court has UPHELD the jury verdict that Donald Trump assaulted E. Jean Carroll! Trump has been REJECTED! No means no, Donald! Which is a concept he obviously doesn’t understand…”
While Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, draws closer, so does the trial. Trump has said he will plead not guilty to all counts so long as the trial doesn’t get postponed. The trial seemingly has equal chances to go well or poorly for Trump; he’s spoken out publicly about Judge Merchan, claiming he’s corrupt. Although Judge Merchan seems relatively unaffected by his comments, shown by his exemption of Trump from jail time, that could change at any moment. Initially, there were 12 jurors and 6 alternates, but the number has dwindled since the beginning of the trial.
For the time being, it’s likely that the trial will proceed as normal on Friday, but no one can say for sure.
