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The verdict cements Trump’s conviction before he returns to power before while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.
US President-elect Donald Trump (AP Image)
United States President-elect Donald Trump has been sentenced to an “unconditional discharge” for his conviction on 34 charges of business fraud related to hush money payment to pornstar Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
The verdict cements Trump’s conviction before he returns to power before while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.
Trump’s sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies, put on trial for almost two months and convicted by a jury on every count.
What Is Unconditional Discharge?
Unconditional discharge means Trump will not be imprisoned, fined or face probation, but his conviction still stands, and he will enter office as a convicted felon.
With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Judge Merchan has indicated he plans a no-penalty sentence called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors aren’t opposing it. That would mean no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed, but nothing is final until Friday’s proceeding is done.
Extraordinary Case
Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan said that like when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president “is a factor that overrides all others”.
“Despite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict,” Merchan said.
The judge further noted that this has been an extraordinary case.
“Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstance. This has been a truly extraordinary case,” he added.
Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided Trump’s attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.
The verdict came a day after the Supreme Court rejected the President-elect’s request to drop the proceeding. Trump said he thought it was a “fair decision” and referred to possible further appeals, such as of the verdict.
Trump addressed the court as he appeared virtually from his Florida home, and said that his criminal trial and conviction has “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime. He again pilloried the case, the only one of his four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.
“It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work,” Trump said.
What’s The Hush Money Case?
Trump was convicted in May of falsifying records related to hush money that his then-attorney Michael Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels in the closing days of the 2016 presidential election. Daniels testified that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.
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New York, United States of America (USA)