Judge: Trump's sentence to be handed down before his inauguration

A New York judge has announced that the verdict against US President-elect Donald Trump will be delivered on January 10th in his New York financial trial, just days before he is sworn in as president.

New York Judge Juan Merchan indicated that he would not sentence Trump to prison time, charges or fines, but instead "will release him unconditionally", and wrote that the president-elect could appear in court in person or via videoconference for the hearing.

Trump tried to use his presidential victory to have the case against him dismissed The president-elect has posted a message on social media rejecting the judge's order, calling the move an "illegal political attack" and calling the case "nothing but vote fraud".

Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 (£105,000) payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The charges relate to attempts to cover up payments to her former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in the final days of the 2016 election campaign paid the adult film star money to remain silent about alleged meetings with Trump.