SENTENCING: Trump Receives an Unconditional Discharge in the NYC Lawfare Case—No Jail Time, No Fine, No Penalties

It was all just to ruin him.

President Trump posted this on Truth Social:

The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt. After spending tens of millions of dollars, wasting over 6 years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the City and State, coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE. That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED. 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. As the American People have seen, this “case” had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference. Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Sentenced for Felony Judge hands down a sentence of unconditional discharge, which carries no punishment

Trump Becomes First Former President Sentenced for Felony
Judge hands down a sentence of unconditional discharge, which carries no punishment

By Corinne Ramey and James Fanelli, Wall Street Journal, Jan. 10, 2025 10:26 am ET

A defiant Donald Trump was sentenced to no punishment for covering up hush money paid to a porn star, cementing his status as a felon on the cusp of his return to the White House.

The proceeding took place in the same drab New York state courtroom as his more than monthlong criminal trial. The president-elect and his lawyer, Todd Blanche, were in Florida, sitting with American flags behind them. The judge, Manhattan prosecutors and one of Trump’s lawyers sat in the courtroom. The packed gallery was filled largely with reporters.

The court hearing was unprecedented, making Trump not only the first former president to be found guilty of a crime, but the first president to be sentenced for one. It was also a formality.

Before handing down an unconditional discharge, which carries no punishment, Justice Juan Merchan said the sentence was appropriate because of the extraordinary protections of the presidency.

“Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump, the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections,” Merchan said. But, he added, those protections “do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way.”

Trump in rambling remarks told the judge the business records in question were accurately marked as legal expenses. “It’s been a political witch hunt,” Trump said, wearing a dark suit and striped red tie. “It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election.”

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said that he supported the expected sentence because of the coming inauguration. But he said Trump was being far from remorseful, and engaging in a coordinated effort to attack and retaliate against the prosecutors and judge.

“This defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of criminal justice,” Steinglass said.

An unconditional discharge is a rare sentence for someone convicted at trial of even a low-level felony, lawyers said. Merchan must recognize the impracticality of probation officers searching the White House or ordering a sitting president to do community service, said Effie Blassberger, a former state prosecutor who isn’t involved with the case.

Continued….