The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York dealt with a host of weighty, unprecedented questions before deciding Friday that the president-elect should be sentenced later this month for the crime of falsifying business records. In an 18-page legal opinion, Judge Juan Merchan laid out his reasoning for the ruling. His most important finding was that Trump’s conviction should not be thrown out. But the judge also signaled that he intended to impose a sentence under which Trump would not face any punishment beyond having the conviction on his legal record. Trump’s spokesperson said after the ruling that the president-elect would continue to fight against the case, which he called a hoax.
