While handing down the "unconditional discharge" verdict, the New York State judge said it was the "only lawful sentence" given the circumstances of Trump taking office on Jan 20, when the 78-year-old Republican will become the first-ever US president to step into the White House with a felony conviction.
US President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on Jan 10, 2025. Image: AP
A United States judge on Jan 10 sentenced President-elect Donald Trump after he was found guilty by a jury last year of paying “hush money” to a porn star. The sentence: No jail, no fine, no probation.
Trump, who was facing prison time of up to four years, walked away a free man, with Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan choosing a sentence that effectively ended the case.
The verdict, however, stamped a judgment of guilt on Trump’s record, ensuring he will become the first-ever US president to enter the White House with a felony conviction.
Following a seven-week trial, Trump was found guilty in May 2024 by a unanimous jury, which concluded he committed 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to cover up reimbursements for a “hush money” payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen received the falsified reimbursements for his US$ 130,000 wire to Daniels just before the 2016 presidential elections. Cohen had paid Daniels the amount to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
While handing down the mildest available criminal sanction of an unconditional discharge, the judge said it was the “only lawful sentence” given the circumstances of Trump taking office in 10 days’ time and the legal protection he will enjoy as the president “is a factor that overrides all others.”
“Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. The only lawful sentence that permits judgment of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land is an unconditional discharge,” judge Merchan said.
In attendance during the sentencing via video conferencing, Trump called the trial a “very terrible experience” and a “tremendous setback for New York.”
“With all the horrible things that are going on, I got indicted for calling a legal expense a legal expense,” he said.
It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I’d lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work,” he said. “The fact is I’m totally innocent. I did nothing wrong.”
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