NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 6: Former President Donald Trump prepares to testify during his trial in New York State Supreme Court on November 06, 2023 in New York City. Trump is scheduled to testify in the civil fraud trial that alleges that he and his two sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump conspired to inflate his net worth on financial statements provided to banks and insurers to secure loans. New York Attorney General Letitia James has sued seeking $250 million in damages. His sons testified in the trial last week and his daughter Ivanka Trump is scheduled to testify on Wednesday after her lawyers were unable to block her testimony. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
On Friday, Donald Trump’s New York criminal hush money case came to an end as the president-elect was sentenced to “unconditional discharge” – meaning no jail, probation, or fine.
In March 2023, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records. The records were falsified to cover up the $130,000 payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she had with Trump before the 2016 election. Despite Daniels’ detailed report of sex with Trump ten years earlier, Trump denied any such encounter. In May, a jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts.
Despite the result of his ruling, Merchan noted that the consequence-free verdict of the case, “[Does] not reduce the seriousness of a crime or justify its commission in any way.” Merchan justified his decision by saying he imposed the sentence in accordance with the U.S. Constitution and Justice Department policy which exempts a sitting president from prosecution.
Prior to the sentence, Trump, who attended the hearing remotely, called the case “a political witch hunt” intended to “damage my reputation so I would lose the election.”
Later, Trump posted to TruthSocial, “The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt…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.”
Many Democrats and Republicans alike took Trump’s slew of charges and battles as a sign that the president-elect is unfit for office. In his defense, Trump argued that the case, in addition to all other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits – which accuse him of sexual abuse, fraud, and defamation – was evidence of liberals weaponizing the justice system against him.
Trump voiced such accusations in court so frequently, at such a frequency, that Merchan ended up fining him $10,000 for violating a gag order. However, impositions had no impact on Trump’s outbursts, and numerous attacks at Merchan, the judiciary system, prosecutors and witnesses followed.
Regarding the verdict, Merchan said, that protecting the office is a judicial commitment that “overrides all overs.”
However, Merchan noted, “Despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase jury verdicts.” Trump plans to appeal the verdict, a process that will likely take years.
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