Donald Trump was sentenced without penalty in the New York hush money case Friday after a symbolic – and historic and unprecedented – hearing following the first felony conviction of a former and soon-to-be sitting president.
Judge Juan Merchan spoke to Trump for several minutes, telling the president-elect that it was the office of the presidency – and not the occupant – that was afforded extraordinary legal protections requiring him to impose a sentence of unconditional discharge without any punishment.
Trump chose to speak before Merchan imposed his sentence, showing zero contrition and launching into the same attacks against the “political witch hunt” that he’s been claiming since he was first indicted more than 20 months ago.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records. While he has vowed to keep fighting the conviction through the appeals courts, Friday’s sentencing cements the fact that Trump will be the first convicted felon to become president 10 days from now.
An unprecedented sentencing
Merchan already signaled he would not sentence Trump to any punishment, let alone jail time. That’s something the US Supreme Court noted when it allowed the hearing to go forward in a 5-4 ruling Thursday night, over Trump’s objections.
But that didn’t make Friday’s sentencing any less significant or embarrassing for Trump, who was allowed to appear virtually from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
During Friday’s sentencing, Trump’s tone was perhaps more subdued while speaking over a virtual connection, but he nevertheless railed for several minutes against everyone involved in the case – the prosecutors, the judge, Michael Cohen and more – claiming he has been treated unfairly.
Trump concluded his speech by noting that the voters had put him back in office, even ticking off the fact that he won all seven swing states and the popular vote.
The voters had “been watching your trial so they understood it,” the president-elect said, implying that the case helped return him to the White House.
Judge focuses on protections of ‘office of the presidency’
Merchan did not criticize Trump’s conduct as he sentenced him, instead focusing on the judge’s difficult task of imposing a sentence and the legal reasons why he was not imposing any punishment in the case.
Merchan noted that the circumstances surrounding this case were extraordinary – but said that once the courtroom doors closed, it proceeded like any other trial in the New York court system.
And Merchan made clear that it was the office of the presidency – and not Trump himself – that tied his hands on a sentence in the hush money case.
“It is the legal protections afforded to the office of the president of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant of the office,” the judge said.
Courtesy WPLG local 10
Last year’s seven-week trial was held without any audio or video recordings allowed, but Merchan agreed to allow an audio recording of Friday’s hearing to be released, allowing the public to hear the proceedings – and Merchan’s measured tone as he delivered his sentence – for the first time.
“The considerable – indeed, extraordinary – legal protections afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.
Those protections, the judge said, are “a legal mandate, which, pursuant to the rule of law, this court must respect and follow.”
Prosecutors concurred with Merchan’s decision to sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge, but assistant district attorney Josh Steinglass accused Trump of harming the rule of law with his conduct before and after the May jury verdict.
Steinglass noted that the probation officer who interviewed Trump for a probation report ahead of the sentencing wrote that Trump “sees himself as above the law.”
“Far from expressing any kind of remorse for his criminal conduct,” Steinglass added, Trump “encouraged others to reject the jury verdict.”
“This defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system,” Steinglass said.