Trump sentenced:
President-elect Donald Trumphas been sentenced to unconditional discharge forhis conviction last year on 34 charges of business fraud related to hush money payment to Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.
• What the sentence means:
Unconditional discharge means Trump will not be imprisoned, fined or face probation, but his conviction still stands, and he will enter office as a convicted felon. Prosecutors had recommended the sentence, saying in court Friday, “we must be respectful of the office of the presidency” and Trump’s pending inauguration.
President-elect Donald 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, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice,” he continued.
During the sentencing: Judge Juan Merchan said the legal protections of the presidency “do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way,” adding that “one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict.”
Peoplesmind
