Washington The only former and prospective American president with a criminal record is President-elect Donald Trump, who was sentenced Friday in his New York hush money case, just days before his inauguration.
Although Trump has been charged with four crimes, only the New York state case proceeded to trial. In May, he was found guilty by a jury of 34 charges for forging ledger entries, invoices, and checks totaling $130,000 to reimburse his lawyer for paying off a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
Ten days before Trump takes the oath of office as the 47th president, New York Justice Juan Merchan sentenced the president-elect to an unconditional discharge, leaving him without jail time or penalties but leaving a lasting scar on his record.
Speaking from his Mar-a-Lago home during the virtual hearing, Trump maintained his complete innocence and defended the way his payments to his attorney were described as legal fees in his company’s financial records. He accused the federal government of being involved in the New York state case, as he has done before.
The goal of the political witch hunt was to harm my reputation in order to cause me to lose the race, but it was manifestly unsuccessful. According to C-SPAN audio, the president-elect stated, “And the people of our country got to see first hand because they watched the case in your courtroom.” Neither the trial nor the sentencing took place in the courtroom with cameras.
There isn’t much room in the courtroom for reporters and the general public.
Merchan described the case as unique, but he added that a jury composed of regular people rendered a decision and that the same burden of proof was applied.
“Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you pursue your second term in office,” Merchan said to Trump after outlining the punishment.
Trump’s personal attorney, Todd Blanche, who was selected to be the country’s next deputy attorney general—the second-highest ranking job at the U.S. Justice Department—represented him both on Friday morning and during the trial.
Despite Trump’s last-minute request for the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the sentencing, it proceeded after months of delays. The order stated that judges Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh would have granted Trump’s application, but the judges rejected it late Thursday.
Just hours before filing the motion on the court’s emergency docket, Trump had a phone conversation with Alito, according to a Thursday ABC News story. The two did not discuss the application, Alito informed the network.
Trump’s blustery preparations for his second term were briefly disrupted by the sentencing, which lasted less than 30 minutes. Later on Friday, the president-elect was scheduled to welcome members of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right House Republicans, at his Florida estate. Trump met with Republican governors on Thursday and Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
On his Truth Social platform, Trump denounced his sentence as a fraud, deception, and vile spectacle, and he plans to appeal—a process that will probably take years in New York.
By re-electing me with a resounding mandate in one of the most important elections in history, the American people—the true jury—have spoken, Trump wrote.
As mandated by law, the 12 jurors in New York who found Trump guilty were also citizens of the United States.
Trump has contested his conviction in New York, citing the Supreme Court’s decision from last summer that past presidents had presumptive immunity for actions beyond the scope of their official duties and criminal immunity for official conduct committed while in office.
In the end, Merchan rejected Trump’s claim of immunity, stating that the trial and the supporting documentation were solely pertaining to unofficial behavior and hence not eligible for immunity.
A court order blocking the release of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s final report outlining federal criminal charges against Trump for mishandling and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office, as well as for plotting to tamper with the 2020 presidential election results, has also kept Trump busy in recent days.
Because the Justice Department has a long-standing policy of pursuing sitting presidents, Smith ended both cases after Trump won the election.
Following an appeal by Trump’s two co-defendants in the case, a federal appeals court on Friday rejected pleas to block the whole report, leaving only protections for the section pertaining to the lawsuit involving the secret papers.
