The Supreme Court will "slap down" any attempt to sentence Donald Trump for his Stormy Daniels hush money payments, a legal expert said.
Trump, the president-elect, faced trial in New York City on 34 counts of falsifying business records for hush money payments made to former adult film actor Stormy Daniels. On May 30, a jury convicted him on all 34 counts, and he is due to be sentenced on November 26 by New York Superior Court judge Juan Merchan.
Greg Germain, a law professor at Syracuse University in New York and a corporate attorney, told Newsweek that he doesn't think Merchan will continue with the sentencing now that Trump is president-elect.
"The hush money case needs to be stayed. If Judge Merchan tries to proceed with it, or even sets it for sentencing, the Department of Justice will intervene and ultimately the Supreme court will slap him down," he said.
"I don't think he will try. [New York County District Attorney] Alvin Bragg said early on he would comply with the Department of Justice's guidance, which forbids indicting, continuing with the prosecution, or jailing a sitting president, or otherwise interfering with the president's functions," he said.
New York University law professor Stephen Gillers told Newsweek that the hush money case will continue.
"The cash money case is a state prosecution and it will continue," he said. "However, the judge may either delay sentencing until 2029 or impose a sentence now. If the sentence includes a period of incarceration, it will be delayed until 2029. If it is a fine, it will be stayed until Trump has exhausted his appeals," he said.
Newsweek sought email comment from Trump's attorney on Thursday.
New York's appeals court had been considering Trump's request to have the sentencing transferred to a federal court. His lawyers want the case transferred to federal court so he can claim presidential immunity, according to their court filings.
However, even if he's not granted a transfer, his hush money sentencing will almost certainly be delayed until 2029.
During the trial in May, Stormy Daniels testified that she slept with Trump in a Nevada hotel room and that he later paid her $150,000 so that she would not reveal the tryst during the 2016 presidential election.
Several times, Merchan expressed his amazement that the defense team didn't put in any objections to Stormy Daniels' colorful description of having sex with Donald Trump.
At one point, she was leaning back in the witness box with legs up to show how Trump was lying on the bed and it was clear that she didn't enjoy the sex.
"I was trying to think about anything other than what was happening there," she told the jury.
She also told the jury that Trump didn't wear a condom.
Speaking about Trump's lawyer, Susan Necheles, Merchan noted in court: "Why on earth she wouldn't object to the mention of a condom, I don't understand."
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