Donald Trump avoids jail time or a fine, but the US president-elect’s criminal conviction will be on his record.Donald Trump has become the first former United States president ever sentenced for a crime.
But the US president-elect avoided penalties for his conviction for falsifying business documents in relation to hush-money payments made to an adult film actress.
Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an “unconditional discharge” on Friday, a day after the US Supreme Court rejected an attempt by Trump’s legal team to delay the sentencing, which took place before the Republican leader’s inauguration on January 20.
The decision means that Trump’s conviction will appear on his permanent record, but he does not face imprisonment, a fine or probation — leaving him unencumbered to enter the White House.
Trump, who previously served as president from 2017 to 2021, was found guilty in late May on 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels, among other things.
The US president-elect has denied any wrongdoing and said he plans to appeal his conviction.
Trump appeared virtually during Friday’s sentencing hearing [Brendan McDermid/Pool via AP Photo]
Appearing virtually at Friday’s sentencing hearing, Trump said his criminal trial and conviction had “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime. Advertisement
“It’s been a political witch-hunt,” Trump said before the judge issued his decision. “It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election and obviously that didn’t work.”
Prosecutors in the New York case had argued that the hush-money payments aimed to conceal allegations of a sexual relationship with Daniels that could have been politically dam …
