The New York state court sentenced for his criminal conviction related to a payment of hush money to a porn star over an alleged sexual encounter.
No punishment was imposed on Trump, who claims the charges were politically motivated, however the conviction was upheld.
Before sentencing, Judge Juan Merchan had signaled that he intended to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge,” meaning there would be no parole requirements to fulfil or fine to be paid.
This is the culmination of the first-ever criminal case brought against a US president in the history of the country.
Trump appeared virtually at the hearing and addressed the court, calling it “a very terrible experience” and saying there was no crime.
He intends to appeal the conviction.
No jail sentence
The sentencing comes after the US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a last-minute bid to stop the hearing by Trump, who is to be sworn into his country’s highest office on January 20.
The judge who oversaw the six-week trial last year, Juan Merchan, had .
Trump’s permanent record will retain a judgment of guilt. He will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the US presidency.
What was Trump’s conviction?
The billionaire businessman turned politicianwas charged in March 2023 by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, with a cover-up related to hush money paid to adult film star
Trump to answer 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 (€126,181) sum paid to Daniels by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.
The money was allegedly paid to secure her silence before the 2016 election — which Trump won — about an alleged sexual encounter she had with him in 2006.
Trump has denied the incident and argued that the case, along with three other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits related to other accusations, was a bid by his political opponents to weaponize the justice system against him.
on May 30.
Falsification of business records can be punishable by up to four years in prison.
Other cases dropped
The hush-money case has been the only criminal case against Trump to come to trial, with his lawyers launching a barrage of legal challenges.
Federal prosecutors have wound down two cases in which Trump is accused of of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss and
That decision was made in view of the policy of the Justice Department against prosecuting a sitting president, which Trump is soon again to be.
The remaining state case, brought in the southern state Georgia over efforts to reverse the 2020 election results in that state, has been suspended after a court in December disqualified the lead prosecutor, Fani Willis.
Trump has also faced civil cases, among other things being found in two civil defamation suits brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll. She
Trump has appealed both verdicts.
tj, kb/msh (Reuters, AP, AFP)
The post US: No punishment, save conviction, in Trump hush money case appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
