Convicted in hush money case but 'Unconditional discharge' means Donald Trump will not be imprisoned, fined or face probation,
But his conviction still stands, and he will enter office as a convicted felon.
(Felon is a person who has committed a felony --- a serious crime that can be punished by more than one year in prison: Robbery is a felony.)
Prosecutors had recommended the sentence, saying in court Friday, “we must be respectful of the office of the presidency” and Trump’s pending inauguration.
Donald Trump pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict. He appeared with his lawyer on TV screens beamed to the courtroom with two American flags in the background.
“I’m totally innocent, I did nothing wrong,” said Trump, who did not testify during the six-week trial last year.
“It’s been a political witch hunt,” said the President-elect before sentencing, wearing a red tie with white stripes.
“It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election and obviously that didn’t work."
Donald Trump will not go to jail or pay a fine over his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, a judge ruled on Friday, but the sentencing will place a judgment of guilt on his record.
Justice Juan Merchan’s sentencing of Trump, 78, to unconditional discharge closes a case that had loomed over his bid to retake the White House just days before his January 20 inauguration.
By granting an unconditional discharge, Merchan would place a judgment of guilt on Trump’s permanent record — without any other legal penalty such as custody, a fine or probation.
Trump responded to his hush money sentencing in a post on Truth Social, railing against Democrats and promising to appeal.
“The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt,” he said in the post.
Trump argued “there was never a case.”
“The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History. As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference,” Trump said.
“Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit,
Trump and several co-conspirators were charged in Fulton County, Georgia for an alleged criminal conspiracy to overturn the state's 2020 election results.
Trump was indicted in August 2023 and had his mugshot taken in an Atlanta jail, where he pleaded not guilty.
But the case has been mired in legal delays and side plots that have, for now, rendered it defunct. Trump is also protected from state prosecutions while he is president, though he cannot issue a pardon for himself here.
Trump was convicted on 34 counts relating to hush money paid to adult-film star Stormy Daniels and how the payments were later reimbursed
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case by a Georgia appeals court in December, after lawyers representing some of Trump's co-defendants brought forth allegations of a romantic relationship with one of the attorneys on her prosecution team.
The case will now be reassigned in a political fraught and uncertain process.
ends
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