In his hush money case, New York President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced on Friday, but the judge chose not to apply any penalties. This decision upholds his conviction but allows him to return to the White House without worrying about facing a fine or jail time.
Trump’s punishment of unconditional discharge concludes a precedent-shattering case in which the former and future president was charged with 34 felonies, tried for over two months, and found guilty on all counts by a jury. He was voted to a second term by voters, however, despite the legal detour and the vile details of a scheme to cover up the affair charges that were revealed in court.
The 78-year-old Republican might have received a sentence of up to four years in jail from Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan. Rather, he opted for a sentence that avoided difficult constitutional questions by essentially bringing the case to a close while guaranteeing that Trump would be the first convicted felon to take office.
According to Merchan, he must take into account any aggravating circumstances before delivering a sentence, just like he would with any other defendant, but the legal protection Trump will enjoy as president outweighs all other considerations.
According to Merchan, one limitation of those legal protections, despite their exceptional scope, is that they do not nullify a jury verdict.
Speaking briefly to the court virtually from his home in Florida, Trump said that his criminal trial and conviction had been a “very terrible experience” and maintained that he had committed no crimes.
On a video feed ten days prior to his inauguration, the Republican former president once more criticized the case, which is the only one of his four criminal indictments to proceed to trial and may be the only one that ever will.
The witch hunt has been political. Trump claimed that the attempt to harm his reputation in order to cause him to lose the election was unsuccessful.
Trump referred to the case as an embarrassment to New York and a weaponization of the government.
Merchan had stated that he intended to give Trump an unconditional release, which is a non-punishment, ten days before his inauguration, and the prosecution did not object.
Although they criticized Trump’s assaults on the legal system during and after the case, prosecutors stated on Friday that they were in favor of a sentence without the possibility of punishment.
According to prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, the former and prospective US president has launched a concerted effort to erode its legitimacy.
Steinglass claimed that rather than expressing regret, Trump has fostered contempt for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system. His demands for retribution against the case’s participants, such as the disbarment of the judge, have harmed the public’s perception of the criminal justice system for years and put court officers in danger.
The former president was sat with his attorney, Todd Blanche, who he appointed as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his upcoming government, when he made an appearance from his Florida residence.
Blanche reiterated Trump’s plan to fight the decision and stated that this case should not have been brought legally. In theory, that cannot occur until he is sentenced.
Trump, a Republican, became the first person to be elected president after being convicted of a felony.
In order to avoid complex constitutional concerns that would have emerged if he had imposed a penalty that coincided with Trump’s administration, the judge had stated that he had planned the unconditional discharge, which is uncommon in felony cases.
A small group of Trump fans and detractors gathered outside prior to the session. A banner with the words “Trump is guilty” was held by one group. One of them read, “Stop political witch hunts and partisan conspiracies.”
Trump was accused in the hush money case of falsifying his company’s financial records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, she received payment to keep a sexual encounter she claims the two had ten years prior a secret. He claims that there was nothing sexual between them and that his political rivals staged a false case against him in an attempt to harm him.
I have never fabricated business documents. The Republican president-elect said last week on his Truth Social platform that the accusation was false and fabricated. The accusations were brought by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.
In a court filing on Monday, Bragg’s office claimed that Trump had committed grave crimes that seriously damaged the integrity of the New York financial market and the sanctity of the democratic process.
The underlying allegations were shady and intricately linked to Trump’s political ascent, even though the precise charges included checks and ledgers. As part of a larger attempt to prevent voters from learning about Trump’s alleged extramarital affairs, prosecutors claimed that Daniels was paid out through Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer at the time.
Trump disputes that the purported interactions took place. According to his attorneys, his goal in suppressing the news was to safeguard his family, not his campaign. Prosecutors said that Cohen’s payments for Daniels’s costs were falsely recorded as legal fees, but Trump maintains that’s just the case.
He commented on Truth Social last week that there was nothing else it could have been named and that he was not concealing anything.
Trump’s attorneys made an unsuccessful attempt to avoid a trial. They have used almost every legal tool at their disposal to try to get the verdict overturned, the case dismissed, or at the very least, the sentencing postponed since his conviction in May on 34 charges of fabricating corporate records.
A Supreme Court ruling in July that grants past commanders-in-chief significant immunity gave the Trump lawyers, who have largely relied on claims of presidential immunity from prosecution, a boost.
When Daniels was compensated in 2016, Trump was a private man and a presidential contender. The following year, when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and documented, he was president.
On the one hand, Trump’s defense team contended that jurors shouldn’t have heard testimony regarding some of his talks with Hope Hicks, the communications director at the time, because of immunity.
Additionally, Trump’s attorneys contended that the action needed to be dropped after he won the election in November of last year in order to prevent it from interfering with his impending administration and his move into the White House.
Originally scheduled for July, Merchan, a Democrat, continually delayed the punishment. However, citing a need for finality, he chose Friday as the date last week. He stated that he tried to strike a balance between the public’s expectation that no one is above the law, the Supreme Court’s immunity rule, Trump’s obligation to govern, and the respect that a jury verdict deserves.
Then, Trump’s attorneys made a last-ditch effort to stop the sentencing. The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision on Thursday night to not postpone the punishment ended their last hope.
Ahead of trial, the other criminal cases that previously threatened Trump have either been resolved or have stagnated.
Following Trump’s election, federal prosecutions over his handling of confidential documents and his attempts to reverse his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election were concluded by special counsel Jack Smith. The removal of prosecutor Fani Willis from a Georgia election tampering case at the state level has left it in limbo.