Incoming US Leader Donald Trump Finally Sentenced in Hush-money Case, Details Emerge
- Appearing in court virtually from his Mar-a-Lago home on Friday, January 10, President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced for his crimes in the New York "hush money" case and released with no restrictions
- Justice Juan Merchan followed through on a promise made one week ago to give Trump a sentence of unconditional discharge, which includes neither jail time nor any other restriction that might impede him after his inauguration on January 20
- Merchan said he was granting that sentence because he believed it was the only legal option, just 10 days before Trump assumes the presidency
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Legit.ng journalist, Ridwan Adeola Yusuf, has over 9 years of experience covering global issues.
New York, USA - United States President-elect Donald Trump was on Friday, January 10, 2025, sentenced to “unconditional discharge”.
Trump was sentenced for his conviction over hush-money payments made to an adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Al Jazeera noted.
Source: Getty Images
Donald Trump's unconditional discharge sentence
The verdict makes Trump the first former US president ever sentenced for a crime.
Judge Juan Merchan delivered the verdict a day after the US Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Trump’s legal team to delay sentencing before the Republican leader’s inauguration on Monday, January 20, 2025.
As reported by the BBC, the incoming US president was spared a prison term or fine in the historic New York case.
Merchan said at the sentencing:
“This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction without encroachment on the highest office of the land is a sentence of unconditional discharge."
An unconditional discharge essentially means “the case is over, the conviction stands, and no further conditions attach,” Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney and law professor at the University of Michigan, explained to Politico.
McQuade said:
“That means no prison time, no fine, no community service, no probation, no nothing.”
Donald Trump furious
Trump, briefly addressing the court as he appeared virtually from his Florida home, said his criminal trial and conviction has “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.
The Republican former president, appearing on a video feed 10 days before he is inaugurated, 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.
Trump called the case “a weaponization of government".
Solidarity for Donald Trump
As he appeared from his Florida home, the ex-president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he has tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.
“Legally, this case should not have been brought,” Blanche said, reiterating Trump’s intention to appeal the verdict.
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.”
Trump wants to take over Greenland
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that hours after his son Donald Trump Jr touched down in the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, in a Trump-branded plane, the US president-elect held a press conference in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
At the press conference, Trump refused to rule out using military force to make Greenland part of the United States (US) and threatened to impose “very high” tariffs on Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous territory, if it gets in his way.
Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.
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Source: Legit.ng
