Judge sentences Trump to an unconditional discharge in hush money case
NEW YORK - A New York judge has sentenced President-elect Donald Trump with an unconditional discharge in his hush money conviction Friday.
This means Trump will not face any punishment beyond having the conviction on his legal record. This means Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.
Trump attorney Emil Bove looks on as US President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid t
What happened in court?
Trump appeared in court via a Teams video feed, with attorney Todd Blanche sitting to Trump’s right, in front of a backdrop of American flags.
What they're saying:
"This has been a very terrible experience. I think it has been a tremendous set back for New York and the New York court system," he said.
"It’s been a political witch hunt," he continued. "It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work."
He argued that voters saw what happened in this courtroom and, like him, thought it was a disgrace and supported him overwhelmingly in the election.
President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan at Manhattan Criminal Court on January 10, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Images)
"This court has determined the only lawful sentence ... is unconditional discharge ... Therefore at this time, I impose this sentence. Sir, I wish you Godspeed."
Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan then spoke, saying a judge must consider the facts of the case as well as aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
"Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances," he said.
He then insisted that unconditional discharge was "the only lawful sentence."
Unconditional discharge, explained
Dig deeper:
The president-elected was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, given Trump’s upcoming return to the White House and other circumstances. Although the case carried a potential sentence of up to four years in prison, Trump avoided further punishment.
This sentence sidesteps thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.
Trump's hush money conviction
The backstory:
In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business' records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Former President Donald Trump waits for the start of proceedings in Manhattan criminal court, April 23, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, Pool, File)
She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.
"I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge," the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.
Bragg's office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed "serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York’s financial marketplace."
Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.
Other criminal cases
What's next:
Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.
After Trump's election, special counsel Jack Smith closed out the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level Georgia election interference case is locked in uncertainty after prosecutor FaniWillis was removed from it.