Trump was convicted in New York in a money laundering case days before taking office | News about Donald Trump
Donald Trump is avoiding prison or a fine, but the criminal conviction of the US president-elect will be on his record.
Donald Trump became the first former president of the United States ever to be convicted of a crime.
But the US president-elect has avoided punishment for his conviction for falsifying business documents in connection with secret cash payments to an adult film actress.
Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional release” on Friday, a day after US Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Trump’s legal team to delay the sentencing, which took place before the Republican leader’s inauguration on January 20.
The decision means Trump’s conviction will appear on his permanent record, but he does not face jail time, fines or probation — leaving him unencumbered by an entry into the White House.
Trump, who previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, was found guilty at the end of May in a 34-count indictment for falsifying business documents related to a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, among other things.
The US president-elect has denied any wrongdoing and said he plans to appeal his verdict.
Appearing verbatim at Friday’s sentencing hearing, Trump said his criminal trial and conviction was a “very horrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.
“It was a political witch hunt,” Trump said before the judge made his decision. “It was done to damage my reputation in order to lose the election, and it obviously didn’t work.”
Prosecutors in the New York case argued that the secret payment was intended to cover up the sexual allegations relationship with Daniels it could have been politically damaging.
The payments have been made on the eve of the 2016 US presidential election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton and won the White House.
Trump, who has pleaded not guilty in the case, has denied any sexual intercourse.
Reporting from Washington, DC, on Friday morning, Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher said prosecutors argued that it was “important that Donald Trump be found responsible.”
“The judge himself said that this was a unique and difficult case, but in the end he decided that the sentence had to be an unconditional release,” Fisher said.
Under the New York Penal Code, a court may sentence a defendant to unconditional release if it “finds that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any conditions on the defendant’s release.”
Earlier this week, Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to postpone the sentencing “to prevent grave injustice and damage to the institution of the Presidency and the work of the federal government”.
They argued that the top court’s decision last year gave presidents broad immunity from prosecution, meaning some of the evidence should not have been introduced in the case.
But a majority of the Supreme Court justices said in a decision late Thursday that “alleged evidentiary violations” in Trump’s state court trial “can be resolved through the usual appellate process.”
They also said the “burden that sentencing will impose” on Trump’s responsibilities “is relatively minor in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional release’ after a brief virtual hearing.”
Now that he’s been sentenced, Trump is free to appeal, a process that could take years and unfold as he serves his second four-year term as president.
“Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it’s over, we will appeal this fraud, which has no merit, and restore American confidence in our once great Justice System,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform after sentencing.
