President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine. The punishment-free judgement marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant. The case was the only one of four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will. Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency. Unlike his trial last year, when Trump brought allies to the courthouse and addressed waiting reporters outside the courthouse, the former president did not appear in person Friday, instead making a brief virtual appearance from his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, wearing a dark suit and seated next to one of his lawyers with an American flag in the background, appeared on a video screen as he again insisted he did not commit a crime. “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. Trump called the case “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.” 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. Yet, the legal detour — and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations — didn’t hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term. 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.” US SC rejects Trump’s bid to delay sentencing in his hush money case “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. Trump, briefly addressing the court by video, said his criminal trial and conviction have “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime. Before Friday's hearing, Merchan had indicated he planned the no-penalty sentence, called an unconditional discharge, which meant no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed. 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 once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said. Rather than show remorse, Trump has “bred disdain” for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, "has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm’s way.” As he appeared from his Mar-a-Lago home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he’s tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration. Trump's electric vehicle policies create uncertainty for automakers “The American voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this was the kind of case that should’ve been brought. And they decided," Blanche said. “And that’s why in 10 days President Trump is going to assume the office of the president of the United States.” Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, “Trump is guilty.” The other held one that said, “Stop partisan conspiracy” and “Stop political witch hunt.” The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business' records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him. “I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,” the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat. Bragg's office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed “serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York’s financial marketplace.” While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump’s political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off — through Trump's personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen — as part of a wider effort to keep voters from hearing about Trump's alleged extramarital escapades. Trump tries again to get Friday's hush money sentencing called off Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said Cohen's reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says that's simply what they were. “There was nothing else it could have been called,” he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding, “I was hiding nothing.” Trump's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed. The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from a Supreme Court decision that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity. Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year. Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he set Friday's date, citing a need for “finality.” He wrote that he strove to balance Trump's need to govern, the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the public’s expectation that "no one is above the law.” Trump's inaugural committee raised a record $170m in donations Trump's lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing. Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial. After Trump's election, special counsel Jack Smith closed out the federal prosecutions over Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level Georgia election interference case is locked in uncertainty after prosecutorFaniWillis was removed from it.

A sharply divided Supreme Court on Thursday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s final bid to put his New York hush-money case on hold, clearing the way for him to be sentenced for felony crimes days before he returns to the presidency. The court’s 5-4 order allows Judge Juan M. Merchan to impose a sentence Friday on Trump, who was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied any liaison with Daniels or any wrongdoing. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberals in rejecting his emergency motion. The majority found his sentencing wouldn't be an insurmountable burden during the presidential transition since Merchan has indicated he won't give Trump jail time, fines or probation. Trump's attorneys had asked the sentencing be delayed as he appeals the verdict, but the majority of justices found his arguments can be handled as part of the regular appeals process. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have delayed the sentencing, the order states. Trump said he respects the high court's order, and will pursue an appeal that could end up before the high court again. “I respect the court’s opinion — I think it was actually a very good opinion for us because you saw what they said, but they invited the appeal and the appeal is on the bigger issue. So, we’ll see how it works out,” he said at a dinner with Republican governors at his private club in Florida. The defeat comes after the conservative-majority court has handed Trump major victories over the past year, ensuring that states could not kick him off the ballot because of the 2021 attack on the Capitol and giving him immunity from prosecution over some acts he took as president in a ruling that delayed an election-interference case against him. The justices could also be faced with weighing other parts of the sweeping conservative changes he's promised after he takes office. In the push to delay the New York sentencing, Trump’s attorneys argued he is immune from criminal proceedings as president-elect and said some evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s immunity decision. Read: Judge schedules Trump's sentencing in hush money case for January 10, indicating no jail time At the least, they have said, the sentencing should be delayed while their appeals play out to avoid distracting Trump during the White House transition. Prosecutors pushed back, saying there’s no reason for the court to take the “extraordinary step” of intervening in a state case now. Trump’s attorneys didn't show that an hourlong virtual hearing would be a serious disruption, and a pause would likely mean pushing the case past the Jan. 20 inauguration, creating a delay that could last at least through his presidency. “We brought a case. A jury of ordinary New Yorkers returned 34 guilty verdicts,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at an unrelated news conference Thursday afternoon. “Our function right now primarily is to continue to give voice to that verdict and respect, as a principle -- bedrock principle of the administration of justice -- that the jury’s voice must not be rubbed out.” Trump’s attorneys went to the justices after New York courts refused to postpone sentencing, including the state’s highest court on Thursday. Judges in New York have found that the convictions on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to personal matters rather than Trump’s official acts as president. Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006. He denies it. Trump’s attorneys called the case politically motivated, and they said sentencing him now would be a “grave injustice” that threatens to disrupt the presidential transition as the Republican prepares to return to the White House. Read more: Appeals court upholds Donald Trump's gag order as he again presses judge to exit hush money case Trump is represented by D. John Sauer, his pick to be the solicitor general, who represents the government before the high court. Sauer also argued for Trump in the separate criminal case charging him with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which resulted in the Supreme Court’s immunity opinion. Defense attorneys cited that opinion in arguing some of the evidence used against him in the hush money trial should have been shielded by presidential immunity. That includes testimony from some White House aides and social media posts made while he was in office. The decision comes a day after Justice Alito confirmed that he took a phone call from Trump the day before the president-elect’s lawyers filed their emergency motion before the high court. The justice said the call was about a clerk, not any upcoming or current cases, but the unusual communication prompted calls for Alito to recuse himself, including from the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Justices make their own decisions about whether to recuse and Alito still weighed in on the case.

A judge set January 10 as the sentencing date for President-elect Donald Trump in his hush money case, just days before he is set to return to the White House. However, the judge indicated that Trump would not face jail time. The decision positions Trump to become the first U.S. president to assume office with a felony conviction. Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over the trial, stated in a written ruling that he plans to issue an "unconditional discharge." This means Trump’s conviction will remain on record, but he will not face jail, fines, or probation. Trump has the option to attend the sentencing virtually. Judge Merchan rejected Trump’s attempts to dismiss the verdict on grounds of presidential immunity and his upcoming second term. He emphasized the need to conclude the matter, balancing Trump’s ability to govern without interference against the public expectation of equality before the law and respect for the jury's decision. Trump's strength and unpredictability can help end the war with Russia: Zelenskyy Trump reacted strongly on Truth Social, calling the ruling a political attack and a “rigged charade” orchestrated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. He warned that upholding the decision would undermine the presidency. Bragg’s office declined to comment, and legal experts noted that while Trump can appeal his conviction, he cannot pardon himself, as the case falls under state law. The charges against Trump stemmed from a scheme to conceal a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. The case centered on how Trump reimbursed his former attorney Michael Cohen for the payment, which was made to suppress claims of an alleged affair—a claim Trump denies. Trump’s sentencing was initially scheduled for July 2024 but faced delays. After his November election victory, both sides weighed the implications of his upcoming presidency. Trump’s lawyers argued for the case's dismissal, citing disruptions to his governance, while prosecutors advocated for accommodations that still upheld the conviction. Merchan ruled against dismissing the case, stating that granting such immunity to a president-elect would undermine the rule of law. He dismissed arguments linking the Supreme Court's immunity ruling to the case, noting that Trump’s actions occurred before and during his first presidency. The hush money case is the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to reach trial. Federal charges related to election interference and classified documents have been dropped, while a Georgia state election case remains unresolved. Trump’s lawyers argued that these developments should lead to the dismissal of the New York case, but Merchan found no basis for such a conclusion, emphasizing the distinct stages of the respective cases.