Donald Trump has been sentenced to an "unconditional discharge" in the New York hush money case, avoiding jail time, fines, and probation. The ruling preserves the President-elect's ability to appeal the conviction.
The president-elect attended his sentencing virtually after fighting to block the process all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. He sat beside his defense attorney Todd Blanche.
Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan said in his ruling that the protections afforded to the office of the presidency were a factor in his decision.
"After careful analysis, this court determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction is an unconditional discharge," Merchan said Friday. "At this time, I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts."
Merchan added, "Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office."
The Judge said he took the "unusual step" of informing Trump of his sentence prior to the proceeding.
"The imposition of sentence is one of the most difficult decisions that any criminal court judge is called to make," Merchan said, noting the court "must consider the facts of the case along with any aggravating or mitigating circumstances."
Merchan reflected on the case, saying that "never before has this court been presented with such a unique set of circumstances." The judge said it was an "extraordinary case" with media interest and heightened security but said that once the courtroom doors were closed, the trial itself "was not any more unique or extraordinary" than any other case.
Before Judge Merchan announced the sentence, Trump called the case a "tremendous setback for the American court system."
"This is a great embarrassment to the state of New York," Trump said, adding that the people saw the trial firsthand, and voted "decisively" to elect him as president.
Trump said the Justice Department was "very involved" and stressed that a case like this against a former president, candidate and now president-elect has "never happened in our country before."
"And I would just like to explain that I was treated very, very unfairly. And I thank you very much," Trump said Friday. “I got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. I just want to say I think it’s an embarrassment to New York.”
“This has been a very terrible experience. I am totally innocent, I did nothing wrong. It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election, and obviously that didn’t work.”
The president-elect called the case a “political witch hunt,” maintaining his innocence and claiming the case was brought to damage his reputation.
Trump filed an appeal to block sentencing from moving forward with the New York State Court of Appeals. That court rejected his request.
The president-elect also filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that it "immediately order a stay of pending criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of New York County, New York."
The Supreme Court Justices voted 5-4 to denied the request. The court's order filed Thursday noted that "Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would grant the application;" suggesting that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson.
The Supreme Court order stated that "the application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons."
"First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal," the Supreme Court's order stated. "Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of 'unconditional discharge' after a brief virtual hearing."
Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20.
