Donald Trump sentenced in ‘hush money’ trial
Just 10 days before his Presidential inauguration, Donald Trump has been sentenced in his sensational ‘hush money’ trial. But the President-elect says the case isn’t over yet.
World
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Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon to serve as the US president, having been slapped on the wrist with a symbolic sentencing for falsifying business records to cover up hush money he paid to a porn star.
But immediately after the long-awaited conclusion of his explosive criminal trial, the President-elect vowed to launch an appeal from the White House over what he blasted as a “despicable charade”.
The 78-year-old appeared virtually in the Manhattan Criminal Court as Judge Juan Merchan imposed an unconditional discharge – a sentence he said was necessary to spare Mr Trump from any punishment after he stormed back to power in November’s presidential election.
Speaking 10 days before Mr Trump’s inauguration, Judge Merchan acknowledged “Donald Trump the ordinary citizen” could have faced a fine, probation or even prison time after he was convicted on 34 felony counts by a New York jury last May.
“Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections,” he said.
“It is the office of the president that bestows those to the office holder. It is the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections.”
Saying the court had never “been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances”, Judge Merchan told Mr Trump: “Godspeed as you assume a second term.”
The President-elect, who appeared virtually in court, spoke moments before the sentencing to once again characterise the case as a “political witch hunt”.
“It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election,” he said.
During the criminal trial, the first of an American president in history, the jury heard salacious details about how Mr Trump paid $US130,000 to prevent Stormy Daniels going public on the eve of the 2016 presidential election about her claim that they had an affair.
But the 78-year-old – who chose not to testify in his own defence – said at the sentencing that he was “indicted after calling a legal expense a legal expense”. He has always denied the porn star’s allegations about their relationship.
“This is a case that should have never been brought,” Mr Trump said.
“I would just like to explain that I was treated very unfairly, and I thank you very much.”
In a later social media post, Mr Trump vowed to appeal, as he unleashed on the “highly conflicted judge” and the prosecution’s star witness – his former lawyer Michael Cohen who orchestrated the payment to Ms Daniels – as a “disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer”.
“The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History,” Mr Trump on Truth Social.
Lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass used the sentencing to recap the “overwhelming evidence” that led to the former president’s conviction, as he criticised him for causing “enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system”.
“Far from expressing any kind of remorse for his criminal conduct, the defendant has purposefully bred disdain for our institutions and the rule of law,” he said.
Mr Trump is unable to pardon himself for the state conviction.
Since his election, however, the federal Department of Justice has been forced to dump two sets of charges against him – over his effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his mishandling of classified files – because it cannot prosecute a sitting president.
Mr Trump has since nominated two of his lawyers who represented him in the New York case to lead the department, having threatened retribution against his political enemies.
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Originally published as Donald Trump sentenced in ‘hush money’ trial