Trump sentenced in hush money case, will not face jail or probation

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced without penalty Friday for his felony conviction in his hush money trial at what was likely his final court hearing as a criminal defendant before he is sworn in for another term in the White House.

Trump, who was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last year, had furiously sought to cancel the sentencing, appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court and arguing that it would interfere with his presidential transition. His efforts were unsuccessful, and 10 days before his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump appeared virtually on a video screen in the same Manhattan courthouse where he stood trial last year.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial and handed down the sentence, gave Trump an unconditional discharge, meaning the president-elect will not face time behind bars, a fine or probation.

Because the presidency carries with it broad protections, Merchan said, this sentence was the only one possible without encroaching “on the highest office in the land.” Merchan emphasized that he believed the charges were serious and felt it was vital to respect the jury’s verdict.

“To be clear, the protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor,” Merchan said. “They do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way.”

While Merchan spoke, Trump, who did not attend the New York hearing but participated remotely, appeared fixated on him and scowled at the conclusion of his remarks. Before wrapping up the hearing, Merchan wished Trump “Godspeed” in his second term.

Trump spoke for about six minutes during the hearing, denouncing the case and stating that he was innocent of any wrongdoing. He delivered discursive remarks that also touched on wildfires, wars, inflation and his electoral victory before returning to criticisms of the case.

“I just want to say, I think it’s an embarrassment to New York,” Trump said. At various moments during the hearing, Trump hunched forward toward the camera, shook his head or looked away.

While the hearing’s outcome was foreseen — Merchan had indicated last week Trump would face no jail time or other penalty — it was nonetheless an extraordinary moment in American history, marking the first time a former president or an incoming one was sentenced for a felony conviction.

Soon after the hearing, Trump posted on social media again condemning the case and vowing to appeal. He also claimed victory, writing that the sentence he received proved “THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE.”

Trump has long assailed the trial and officials involved in it, repeatedly attacking Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D), whose office prosecuted the case. Trump has called Merchan “corrupt” and “a radical partisan” and dismissed the proceedings as “a rigged trial.”

Merchan ruled during the trial that Trump violated a gag order in the case 10 times and twice found the former and future president in contempt of court.

During the hearing Friday, Joshua Steinglass, one of the prosecutors, agreed that the unconditional discharge was “the most sensible sentence” given Trump’s upcoming inauguration.

Steinglass also offered an extended rebuke of Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the case, which he described as a purposeful assault on “our judicial institutions and the rule of law.” Trump was “unrelenting in his unsubstantiated attacks” against Merchan, prosecutors and some of their relatives, along with witnesses, jurors and the justice system overall, Steinglass said.

“Put simply, this defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm’s way,” Steinglass said.

The sentencing brought both some respite and vexation for Trump. While conviction carried with it the possibility of up to four years in prison, Trump instead walked free without any sanction. But Trump had still tried and failed to avoid being sentenced at all, with his lawyers arguing that the proceeding should be called off because it would “disrupt the enormously burdensome and sensitive tasks of the presidential transition.”

These efforts ran aground in the courts. Merchan issued a ruling last week upholding Trump’s conviction and scheduling the sentencing for Friday. A New York appeals court judge this week rejected Trump’s request to delay his sentencing, and the Supreme Court on Thursday night declined a similar request.

The sentencing capped off a remarkable years-long period of criminal jeopardy for Trump, who had been charged in four separate criminal cases — in New York, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C. — all while campaigning for another term as president.

But this ebullition of legal jeopardy eventually faltered and faded. Last summer, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a Trump appointee in Florida, dismissed the case there that had accused him of mishandling classified materials. After Trump won the presidency in November, special counsel Jack Smith dropped the D.C. case accusing Trump of obstructing the 2020 election. In Georgia, where Trump still faces charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 electoral loss, an appeals court last month disqualified the prosecutor leading the case, leaving its fate unclear.

Alone among these cases, the Manhattan prosecution — which some legal analysts had questioned, calling it the weakest of the four indictments — actually went to trial and put Trump’s fate before a jury.

Trump stood accused of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult-film actress who had alleged for years that the two of them had sex a decade before he first won the presidency.

The case revolved around a $130,000 payment Daniels received in exchange for not publicly sharing her account during the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors had said it was illegal to classify the payments as legal fees, accusing Trump of managing an extensive “conspiracy to influence the 2016 election.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, paid Daniels and then received monthly reimbursements logged as legal fees in documents maintained by Trump’s business. During the trial, Cohen told jurors he arranged Daniels’s payment at Trump’s direction; he was the only witness who said Trump was directly involved.

Trump has denied having sex with Daniels, and his defense attorneys said the payments to Cohen were properly classified and that he was repaid for legal services. They also took biting aim at Cohen, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and other crimes, painting the prosecution’s key witness as fundamentally unreliable.

Jurors in the case spent a little more than a day deliberating before unanimously voting to convict Trump on all counts. Trump had faced potential prison time as a result of the conviction, though given his age and lack of any criminal record, such a stiff penalty had seemed unlikely.

He was originally set to be sentenced on July 11, but that was pushed back after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for official acts. Trump’s attorneys have argued that his conviction in New York should be thrown out due to the Supreme Court’s decision.

In their filing to the Supreme Court this week, they predicted that appeals would lead to “the dismissal of the District Attorney’s politically motivated prosecution that was flawed from the very beginning.”

The filing came from three lawyers Trump said he plans to name to top Justice Department roles in his incoming administration: Todd Blanche, his pick for deputy attorney general; Emil Bove, his selection for principal associate deputy attorney general; and D. John Sauer, who he wants to serve as solicitor general, an administration’s top lawyer before the Supreme Court.

During Friday’s hearing, Bove sat at a table in the courtroom and Blanche was seated next to Trump on the remote image. Blanche spoke before Trump did, saying that he disagreed with Steinglass’s remarks and felt the case should never have been prosecuted.

Former federal prosecutor Cheryl Bader, a professor at Fordham Law School, said Merchan had been in a challenging position presiding over the case because he had to balance the norms of a criminal trial with Trump’s unusual status.

“The judge noted his disapproval of Trump’s conduct,” Bader said, “but felt that his hands were tied to punish Trump for that behavior given the practicalities of the situation.” Washington Post