Donald Trump avoided punishment for silence money conviction

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Donald Trump has been spared any punishment for his criminal conviction stemming from a hush money payment.
Justice Juan Merchan has sentenced Trump to unconditional discharge, drawing the case to a close.
Trump was found guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

United States president-elect Donald Trump will not go to jail or face any other punishment for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to an adult film star, a judge ruled, but his 20 January inauguration will not erase the jury verdict.

Justice Juan Merchan’s , 78, to unconditional discharge places a judgment of guilt on his record and closes a case that had loomed over Trump’s bid to retake the White House.

Trump will be the first president to take office with a felony criminal conviction.

Merchan said he was imposing the sentence sparing Trump jail, a fine or probation because the US Constitution shields presidents from criminal prosecution.

But he said the protections afforded to the office “do not reduce the seriousness of a crime or justify its commission in any way”.

Donald Trump and a man in a black suit appear on a TV screen inside a courtroom.

Donald Trump appeared remotely for his sentencing hearing alongside his lawyer. Source: AAP, AP / Angela Weiss

“The considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protection afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.

“Despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase jury verdicts.”

Trump set to appeal guilty verdict

Trump pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict.

Appearing with his lawyer on TV screens beamed to the courtroom with two American flags in the background, Trump called the case an unsuccessful attempt to thwart his re-election campaign.

“This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump said before sentencing, wearing a red tie with white stripes

“I’m totally innocent, I did nothing wrong,” he said.

Trump did not testify during the six-week trial last year but has repeatedly disparaged Merchan and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, in public statements.

Now that he has been sentenced, Trump is free to pursue the appeal, a process which could take years and play out while he is serving a four-year term as president.

“Now that it is over, we will appeal this hoax,” Trump wrote in a social media post after the hearing on Friday.

Trump to avoid the spectacle of being compelled to appear before a state-level judge so close to when he is due to be sworn into office.

On Thursday, the US Supreme Court rejected a last-minute bid by Trump to halt it.

Merchan closed the half-hour hearing by saying: “Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office.”

The six-week trial last year played out against the extraordinary backdrop of Trump’s successful campaign to retake the White House.

A group of protesters holding up signs and a banner that reads "Trump is Guilty".

Protesters outside Manhattan Criminal Court during Donald Trump’s sentencing. Source: AAP, SIPA USA / Anthony Behar

Bragg, a Democrat, charged Trump, a Republican, in March 2023 with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s US$130,000 ($210,000) payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump, who denied it.

Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in that election.

Prosecutors argued that despite the tawdry nature of the allegations, the case was about an attempt to corrupt the 2016 election.

Trump argued the case — along with three other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits accusing him of fraud, defamation and sexual abuse — was an effort by opponents to weaponise the justice system against him and harm his re-election campaign.

He frequently lashed out at prosecutors and witnesses, and Merchan ultimately fined Trump US$10,000 ($16,000) for violating a gag order.

As recently as 3 January, Trump called the judge a “radical partisan” in a post on his Truth Social platform.

The hush money case was widely viewed as less serious than the three other criminal cases Trump faced, in which he was accused of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and retaining classified documents after leaving the White House.

Trump pleaded not guilty in all cases.