The Latest: Trump faces sentencing for his New York hush money conviction

President-elect Donald Trump faces sentencing Friday for his New York hush money conviction after the nation’s highest court refused to intervene.

Here's the latest:

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass begins speaking on behalf of the prosecution

He notes the conviction and reviews the sentencing options include up to four years in prison, but other remedies as well.

Steinglass says the prosecution recommends unconditional discharge based on circumstances including Trump’s impending return to the White House.

Steinglass says prosecutors are OK with the potential no-penalty sentence. He cites “all the circumstances of this case, its unique posture and the defendant’s status as president-elect.”

“The verdict in this case was unanimous and decisive and it must be respected,” he said.

As prosecutors began their remarks, Trump shook his head, eyes darting around the screen. The camera view is framed tightly on him and Blanche, offering courtroom spectators a much closer view of Trump’s expression than during the trial.

Trump attorney Emil Bove says Trump is appearing via Teams

“He’s co-located with my partner, Todd Blanche,” he said.

Trump is in Florida, Blanche confirmed.

Trump appears in court via a video feed

He’s wearing a red tie with white or gold thin diagonal stripes. Trump appears stoic and reserved as he waits.

An attorney sits to Trump’s right, in front of a backdrop of American flags. American flag pins on both men’s suit jackets.

Outside the courthouse ahead of the sentencing

A handful of protesters had gathered in front of the Manhattan federal courthouse Friday morning.

Some carried signs reading “DESERVES THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE” and “34 FELONY CONVICTIONS.”

Meanwhile, at a park across the street, supporters unfurled a massive flag reading “TRUMP WON.”

Why did Judge Merchan decide to go ahead with Trump’s sentencing?

In an 18-page legal opinion, Merchan laid out his reasoning for ruling that the president-elect should be sentenced later this month for the crime of falsifying business records.

His most important finding was that Trump’s conviction should not be thrown out simply because he was elected president.

But the judge also signaled that he intended to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge,” which means Trump would not face any punishment beyond having the conviction on his legal record.

▶ Read more about what Merchan had to say

The scene inside the courtroom before sentencing

Four big TV screens are mounted on the walls: one on either side of the bench where the judge will sit and one each hanging from the left and right side, parallel with the tables where the defense and prosecution will sit.

Another large monitor sits behind next to the defense table, visible to the judge’s bench. A crew from ABC News, which will be distributing an audio recording of the proceeding after it ends, was testing the microphone system. At one point, instead of the usual counting up or down to check levels, one member of the crew started reciting the first few words of the Declaration of Independence — “When in the Course of human events” — drawing chuckles from the crowd of reporters and spectators in the gallery.

Trump is expected to appear by video, and he has before

Although Trump was in court for every day of the trial, the judge said the president-elect could attend the sentencing via video if he chose. He’s expected to do that, and it’s not a first in the case.

He appeared remotely for a pretrial hearing in May 2023.

Inside the courtroom the moment Trump was convicted

On May 30, 2024, Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes.

Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below could be heard in the hallway on the courthouse’s 15th floor where the decision was revealed after more than nine hours of deliberations.

▶ Read more from inside the courtroom that day.

Who testified, and what did they say?

Trump’s trial stretched over seven weeks, with 22 witnesses testifying, including porn actor Stormy Daniels, Trump’s fixer turned foe Michael Cohen, former supermarket tabloid publisher David Pecker and White House insiders.

Prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two. Trump decided not to testify on his own behalf. Here’s a look back at what some of the key witnesses had to say.

Remind me again, what was this case about?

Trump was convicted last May of 34 counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes.

The jury found that he falsified records kept by his company to hide the purpose of reimbursements to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who had made a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 campaign to silence her claim of an extramarital sexual encounter. Trump denies they had sex.

What happened to Trump’s other cases?

The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial.

Since his Nov. 5 election, special counsel Jack Smith ended his two federal cases. One pertained to Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss; the other alleged he hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

A separate, state-level election interference case in Georgia is in limbo after an appeals court removed prosecutor Fani Willis from the case.

Is the sentencing streaming anywhere?

No. New York state trial-level courts rarely, if ever, livestream their proceedings. Appeals courts sometimes do.

A look at the judge who is sentencing Trump

Judge Juan M. Merchan has presided over Manhattan felony cases since 2009, after three years in family court. Before that, he was a Manhattan prosecutor and a lawyer for New York state.

Trump has pointed to factors including Merchan’s total of $35 in 2020 donations to Democrats – including President Joe Biden – to argue that the judge is biased and should step away from the case.

A state court ethics panel opined in 2023 that Merchan could continue handling the case, and he avowed that he could be fair and impartial. Read more about Merchan, who also oversees Manhattan’s Mental Health Court.