NEW YORK: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will not go to jail or face any other punishment for his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to a porn star, a judge ruled on Friday but said Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration would not erase the jury verdict.
Justice Juan Merchan’s sentencing of Trump, 78, to unconditional discharge places a judgment of guilt on his record and closes a case that had loomed over Trump’s bid to retake the White House.
Trump will be the first president to take office with a felony criminal conviction.
Merchan said he was imposing the sentence sparing Trump jail, a fine or probation because the U.S. Constitution shields presidents from criminal prosecution. But he said the protections afforded to the office “do not reduce the seriousness of a crime or justify its commission in any way.”
“The considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protection afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said. “Despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase jury verdicts.”
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Trump pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict. Appearing with his lawyer on TV screens beamed to the courtroom with two American flags in the background, Trump called the case an unsuccessful attempt to thwart his re-election campaign.
“This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump said before sentencing, wearing a red tie with white stripes.
“I’m totally innocent, I did nothing wrong,” he said.
Trump did not testify during the six-week trial last year but has repeatedly disparaged Merchan and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case, in public statements.
Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor with Bragg’s office, said at the hearing Trump had engaged in a “coordinated campaign” to undermine the legitimacy of the case and “purposefully bred disdain for our judicial institutions.”
He said prosecutors supported the unconditional discharge sentence.
“The verdict in this case was unanimous and decisive, and it must be respected,” Steinglass said.
Now that he has been sentenced, Trump is free to pursue the appeal, a process which could take years and play out while he is serving a four-year term as president.
Trump fought tooth and nail to avoid the spectacle of being compelled to appear before a state-level judge so close to when he is due to be sworn into office. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a last-minute bid by Trump to halt it.
Merchan closed the half-hour hearing by saying: “Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office.”
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