President-elect will be sentenced for his 34 felony convictions on 10 January, Judge Juan Merchan rules

A judge on Friday set President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush-money case for 10 January – little over a week before he is due to return to the White House – but promised not to jail him.

Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial in New York, signaled in a written decision that he would sentence the former and future president to what is known as a conditional discharge, in which a case gets dismissed if a defendant avoids rearrest.