Though the President-elect gets an unconditional discharge, he will become the first President of the U.S. to be sentenced as a felon; Mr. Trump said the hearing had been a “despicable charade” and that he planned to appeal his conviction.
ew York City on January 10, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. | Photo Credit: Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced on Friday (January 10, 2025) 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 trump sentencing.
The punishment-free judgment 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.trump sentencing
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 Mr. Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.