Donald Trump sentenced with no penalty in New York criminal trial, as judge wishes him ‘Godspeed’ in 2nd term

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge Friday after being found guilty of falsifying business records as part of a year-long investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

The president-elect attended the verdict virtually after fighting to block the trial from as far away as the United States Supreme Court this week. Trump sat next to his defense attorney Todd Blanche.

TRUMP files motion to stay “wrongful conviction” in New York case

Judge Juan Merchan did not sentence the president-elect to prison, but instead sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, meaning no punishment will be imposed – no prison time, fines or probation. The ruling also preserves Trump’s ability to appeal the ruling.

“After careful analysis, this court concluded that the only lawful judgment that allows for the entry of a judgment of conviction is an unconditional discharge,” Merchan said Friday. “At this time, I impose this sentence on all 34 counts.”

Merchan added: “Sir, I wish you success in your second term.”

Before Judge Juan Merchan announced the ruling, 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 people saw the process firsthand and voted “castingly” to elect him 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 before in our country.”

“And I just want to explain that I was treated very, very unfairly. And thank you very much,” Trump said Friday.

Merchan’s deadline is January 10 – just ten days before he is scheduled to be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.

When Merchan ordered sentencing last week, he said he would likely not impose a “sentence of imprisonment” but rather an “unconditional discharge.”

During Friday’s hearing, Merchan said he took the “unusual step” of informing Trump of his ruling before the trial.

“Imposing a sentence is one of the most difficult decisions a criminal judge must make,” Merchan said, noting that the court must “take into account the facts of the case and any aggravating or mitigating circumstances.”

Reflecting on the case, Merchan said: “Never before have such unique circumstances been presented to this court.” The judge said it was an “extraordinary case” with media attention and heightened security, but said the trial itself “was not “more unique or extraordinary” than any other case once the courtroom doors were closed.

After the sentencing hearing concluded, Trump took to his Truth Social platform.

“The Radical Democrats have lost another miserable, un-American witch hunt. After spending tens of millions of dollars and wasting over six years of obsessive labor that should have been spent protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the city and state, I coordinated with the Biden Justice Department/ Harris in the area of ​​lawless weapons and made completely unfounded, illegal and false accusations against your 45th and 47th Presidents, ME “UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE,” Trump posted.

Trump said: “This result alone proves that, as every legal scholar and expert has said, there is no case, there never was a case, and this entire fraud fully deserves to be dismissed.”

“The true jury, the American people, have spoken by re-electing me with an overwhelming mandate in one of the most consequential elections in history,” Trump continued. “As the American people have seen, in this ‘case’ there was no crime, no damages, no evidence, no facts, no law, just a highly controversial judge, a key witness disbarred, disgraced, a serial perjurer, and a criminal choice.” interference.”

Trump added: “Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this hoax, which is baseless, and restore Americans’ trust in our once-great justice system.” MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump appealed to the New York State Appeals Court to block the sentence from being imposed. This court rejected his request.

Trump also filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that it “immediately order a stay of the pending criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of New York County, New York.”

The Supreme Court denied the motion, stating: “The motion for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and referred to the Court by her is denied for, among other things, the following reasons.”

TRUMP SAYS HE respects the Supreme Court’s decision to deny his request to stop the sentencing and vows to appeal

“First, the alleged evidentiary violations in President-elect Trump’s state court trial may be resolved through the due process of appeal,” the Supreme Court order filed Thursday night states. “Secondly, the burden associated with the conviction.” “The decision that will impose the responsibility of the President-elect is relatively insignificant given the stated intention of the trial court to impose a sentence of unconditional dismissal after a short virtual hearing .”

The order also noted that “Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch and Justice Kavanaugh would grant the motion.”

Trump needed five votes to approve his request. The order memo shows that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson.

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Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on January 20th.

Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and repeatedly blasted it as an example of “lawfare” being promoted by Democrats to hurt his election efforts ahead of November.