Can Donald Trump's hush money judge still send him to prison?

Thanks to his successful re-election, Donald Trump has likely avoided seeing the inside of a prison cell.

The president-elect was scheduled to be sentenced on November 26 after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal involving former adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The 34 counts carried a possible sentence of up to four years in prison, and under normal circumstances, Trump would face a very real risk of prison time, according to the report New York Times Analysis of similar cases.

Most defendants who are convicted but do not receive prison time agree to a plea bargain. Trump, on the other hand, was such an openly hostile defendant that he was sanctioned by the court. Convicted felons are typically housed at Rikers Island.

But Trump's lawyers successfully requested a series of delays in the case, and the judge agreed to delay sentencing until after Election Day. Team Trump has also argued that the case should be dismissed entirely or sent to federal court because of presidential immunity.

After Trump beat Kamala Harris, it's not even clear whether prosecutors will seek a prison sentence against a new president. No one has ever had to deal with Secret Service protection at Rikers.

But if prosecutors do indeed demand a harsh sentence, Trump's lawyers will likely seek an indefinite stay of sentencing — and they will likely get it, some experts say.

Constitutional questions about whether a state judge can convict a president-elect could drag out the case for years, and Trump's lawyers will at least argue that he cannot be convicted until his second term as president ends, experts told CNN.

That would make him a free man at least until January 2029. He will be 82 by then and can apply for leniency due to his age and lack of a criminal record.

Just a friendly old man with no criminal record who wants to spend his final days playing around on the golf course he loves so much.

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