The judge in the New York criminal trial sentenced Donald Trump without punishment and wished him “Godspeed” in his second term.
Following a years-long investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, President-elect Donald Trump was found guilty of falsifying company documents and given an unconditional discharge sentence on Friday.
After battling to stop the process all the way up to the US Supreme Court this week, the president-elect virtually attended his sentence. Trump sat next to Todd Blanche, his defense lawyer.
In the New York case, Trump files a motion to remain “unlawful sentencing.”
The case and his sentencing were referred to by Trump as a “tremendous setback for the American court system.”
Trump declared, “This is a great embarrassment to the state of New York,” adding that the people witnessed the trial and cast “decisively” votes to elect him to the presidency.
Ten days before he is scheduled to take the oath of office as the 47th President of the United States, Judge Juan Merchan set the date for January 10.
Merchan gave the president-elect an unconditional discharge, which means there will be no punishment—no jail time, fines, or probation—instead of a prison sentence. Additionally, Trump’s right to appeal the conviction is maintained by the sentencing.
“After careful analysis, this court determined only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction is an unconditional discharge,” Merchan stated on Friday. “At this time, I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts.”
Merchan continued, “Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office.”
When Merchan set the sentencing date last week, he stated that he was unlikely to “impose any sentence of incarceration,” preferring to issue a sentence of “unconditional discharge,” which implies that no penalty will be meted out.
Trump appealed to the New York State Court of Appeals to prevent sentencing from proceeding. His request was denied by that court.
The U.S. Supreme Court received an emergency motion from Trump as well, requesting that it “immediately order a stay of pending criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of New York County, New York.”
According to the high court, “the application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons.” They rejected the motion.
Trump vows to appeal and says he respects the Supreme Court’s ruling to reject his request to halt sentencing.
“First, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing,” the Supreme Court’s order, which was filed Thursday night, said. “Second, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal,” the order said.
According to the order, “Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would grant the application.”
For his request to be approved, Trump needed five votes. The order’s note indicates that Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Katanji Brown Jackson cast their votes alongside Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
