NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday to a sentence with no time on his record still money thinga verdict that allows him to return to the White House without the threat of prison or fines.
After Trump appeared in a video from his Florida estate, the verdict quietly ended an extraordinary trial filled with moments unthinkable in the U.S. just a few years ago.
» READ MORE: Guilty: Trump becomes the first former US president to be convicted of a crime
It was the first criminal prosecution and first conviction against the former US president and leading presidential candidate. The New York case became the only one of Trump’s four indictments to go to trial, and likely the only one ever to go to trial. And the verdict was issued 10 days before the inauguration of the second term.
In about six minutes of court arguments, a tranquil but forceful Trump called the case a “weaponization of the government” and “an embarrassment to New York.” He maintained that he had not committed any crime.
“It was a political witch hunt. This was done to damage my reputation and lose the election, but it obviously didn’t work,” the Republican president-elect said in a video with U.S. flags in the background. Next to him at his Mar-a-Lago estate sat defense attorney Todd Blanche, whom Trump named the second-highest-ranking Justice Department official in his new administration.
About half an hour into the proceedings, Trump wrote in a post on his social media that the hearing was a “despicable farce.” He repeated that he would appeal against the verdict.
Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could sentence the 78-year-old to up to four years in prison. Instead, Merchan chose a verdict that sidesteps thorny constitutional issues, effectively ending the case but ensuring that Trump will become the first president to take office with a felony conviction.
Trump’s sentence of no penalty, called unconditional discharge, is rare for felony convictions. The judge said that as president, he must respect Trump’s upcoming legal protections while also giving due consideration to the jury’s decision.
“Despite the extraordinary scope of these protections, one of the rights they do not provide is the right to have a jury verdict expunged,” said Merchan, who indicated in advance that he planned to issue a no-punishment sentence.
As Merchan uttered the sentence, Trump sat straight, his lips pursed and his brow furrowing slightly. He tilted his head to the side as the judge wished him “God’s luck in his second term.”
Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a sign that read, “Trump is guilty.” The other held one that read, “Stop the guerrilla plot” and “Stop the political witch hunt.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.
This norm-shattering case involved the former and future president accused of committing 34 crimes charged with falsifying commercial books a process lasting almost two months and convicted by the jury on all counts. But the legal detour – and the sordid details revealed in court about the plot to bury allegations of the scandal – did not hurt him in his dealings with voters who elected him to a second term in November.
“American voters had a chance to find out and decide for themselves whether such a case should be brought. And they decided,” Blanche said on Friday.
Prosecutors said they supported a no-conviction sentence, but throughout the case they chided Trump’s attacks on the legal system.
“The one-time future president of the United States engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine his legitimacy,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua Steinglass.
Trump was then expected to return to planning for his new administration. Next Friday, he was scheduled to host conservative House Republicans as they gathered to discuss GOP priorities.
The specific allegations in the hush money case concerned checks and ledgers. But the underlying accusations were vague and deeply tied to Trump’s political rise.
Trump was accused of falsifying his company’s records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Late in Trump’s campaign in 2016, she was paid not to tell the public about the sexual encounter she maintains both had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them and that he didn’t do anything wrong.
Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off – through Trump’s personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen – as part of broader effort to prevent voters from learning about Trump’s alleged extramarital escapades.
Trump denies the alleged meetings took place. His lawyers said he wanted to suppress the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors argued that Cohen’s reimbursements for paying Daniels were falsely reported as legal expenses, Trump maintains that was simply the case.
Trump’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall the trial and later have the verdict overturned, the case dismissed, or at least the verdict postponed.
Trump’s lawyers have relied heavily on claims of presidential immunity from impeachment, and they received support in July decision of the Supreme Court this provides former commanders with significant immunity.
When Daniels was paid in 2016, Trump was a private citizen and a presidential candidate. He was president when the refunds to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.
Merchan, a Democrat, has repeatedly postponed the verdict, originally scheduled for July. But last week he did set a Friday dateciting the need for “finality.”
Trump’s lawyers then launched a series of last-minute efforts to block the verdict. Their last hope disappeared on Thursday evening with… 5-4 Supreme Court Ruling who refused to delay the ruling.
Meanwhile, other criminal cases that once hung over Trump have been settled or stalled before trial.
After Trump’s election, special adviser Jack Smith closed the federal investigation in connection with Trump’s handling of secret documents and his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. State level Georgia election interference case he is locked in suspense after that prosecutorFlapWillis was removed from this.
