Trump faces no penalties in hush money sentence as he prepares to return to White House

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. (Brendan McDermid via AP, Pool)
FILE - Former President Donald Trump appears at Manhattan criminal court during jury deliberations in his criminal hush money trial in New York, May 30, 2024. (Steven Hirsch/New York Post via AP, Pool, File)
FILE - Former President Donald Trump walks to make comments to members of the media after a jury convicted him of felony crimes for falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election, at Manhattan Criminal Court, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, Pool, File)
Image icon
9
VIEW ALL PHOTOS
View All Photos
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. (Brendan McDermid via AP, Pool)

Facebook Share IconTwitter Share IconEmail Share Icon

Comment bubble

4

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday morning in New York for his conviction on 34 felony charges in his hush money case after the Supreme Court refused to block the sentencing, making him the first U.S. president to be convicted and sentenced for a crime to take office.

LIVE OUTSIDE THE COURTROOM

0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 90%

Trump could have been sentenced of up to four years in prison but instead was delivered a sentence that does not include penalties like jail time or probation in what’s called an unconditional discharge. Prosecutors did not oppose the judge’s decision, which means Trump will not serve any jail time, probation or pay any fines for a conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in a case that made him the first former or current president to be convicted of a felony.

“Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances,” said the judge overseeing the case, Juan M. Merchan. “This has been truly an extraordinary case.”

The sentencing comes just 10 days before Trump will be back in the Oval Office on Inauguration Day.

It is the only one of the four criminal cases against him that had a trial as the others stalled out before they could get there. Special counsel Jack Smith dropped his cases for Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and for allegedly conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss once he won the November election, and the state-level election interference case in Georgia has stalled out after Fulton County District Attorney was removed from it over a personal relationship with a lawyer that consulted the prosecution team.

President-elect Donald Trump appears on a video feed for his sentencing for for his hush money conviction in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)

President-elect Donald Trump appears on a video feed for his sentencing for for his hush money conviction in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool Photo via AP)

He will not have to appear in person for the hearing but will be on video from Palm Beach, Florida, where he has based his presidential transition operation. Trump will be allowed to speak at the hearing but it’s unclear if he will do so. The president-elect has framed the case as a politically motivated witch hunt from its inception and was frequently threatened with penalties throughout the trial.

Trump was convicted of changing his business’ records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels late in the 2016 presidential campaign to avoid her going public with an alleged sexual encounter between them a decade earlier. Trump has denied the encounter ever happened and said the prosecution was a politically motivated stunt to hurt his standing.

“This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump said during the hearing, adding: “The fact is, I’m totally innocent.”

He also returned to his accusation that the case was a weaponization of the government against him so that he would lose the election, calling it “an embarrassment to New York.”

He also dismissed that classifying the payments to Daniels as legal expenses to his personal attorney, which prosecutors said were a deceptive tactic to keep an embarrassing story for his campaign from going public.

Attorney Todd Blanche and President-elect Donald Trump, seen on a television screen, appear virtually for sentencing for Trump's hush money conviction in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 in New York. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

Attorney Todd Blanche and President-elect Donald Trump, seen on a television screen, appear virtually for sentencing for Trump’s hush money conviction in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 in New York. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

“There was nothing else it could have been called,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social last week. “I was hiding nothing.”

Trump’s lawyers have made a series of moves to overturn to the verdict, dismiss the case and delay the sentencing since the jury handed down a guilt verdict in May. They have argued in multiple courts that a Supreme Court ruling granting presidents immunity are grounds to dismiss the case and that the immunity would have kept jurors from hearing some evidence used against him. After winning the election, they said the case should be tossed to prevent damaging his transition back into the White House.

None of those efforts were successful but they did convince Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, to delay Trump’s sentencing in July. He set a date last week to bring a conclusion to the lingering case.

Trump’s attorneys set out to block the sentencing with multiple appeals, including one to the Supreme Court that finally dashed their hopes with a 5-4 decision Thursday night declining to intervene.

Related Posts

“He Set the Table for Two… for 20 Years After She Was Gone”

The newspapers were the first sign something was wrong. They had started piling up days ago—neatly at first, then sliding off the porch and curling in the…

–The Story Behind “Barn Stars”

Barns and farmhouses across the countryside often feature a simple yet striking detail—a large, five-pointed star mounted above a doorway or tucked into the gable. Weathered by…

“My Son Is in the Hospital — Then the Doctor Dropped a Shocking Bombshell”

At 3:47 a.m., surgeon Garrison Mills is jolted awake by a call from his son Ethan, who is in severe pain at an emergency room three hours…

They Tried to Steal My Baby—But I Was Already Building the Case Against Them

Six months later, Celeste pleaded guilty to felony fraud. My mother accepted a plea deal for harassment and coercion after prosecutors played her recorded threats in court….

I walked into Subway thinking it was just a simple favor—but then the cashier leaned over and whispered something that changed everything.

After a long day, I stopped at Subway, too tired to cook. The fluorescent lights buzzed softly, the smell of bread hung in the air, and the…

They Tried to Steal My Baby—But I Was Already Building the Case Against Them

When prosecutors played recordings of my mother threatening to report me as mentally unstable unless I surrendered my baby, even Celeste broke down crying. She claimed she…