Donald Trump was granted an unconditional discharge during a sentencing hearing this morning in a New York court, after being found guilty last year by jury trial of falsifying records of payments to an adult film actress during the 2016 election. Trump appeared virtually through Microsoft Teams from Mar-a-Lago with one of his attorneys, Todd Blanche, while another member of his team, Emil Bove, was on site in the Manhattan courtroom. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was in the court, sitting in the gallery behind Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass and his team.
In setting the date for the hearing last week, Judge Juan Merchan indicated that he was inclined to grant Trump an unconditional discharge, which would mean that the guilty verdict would stand as such, but that the president-elect would face no penalties of any kind beyond it. The charges against Trump carried a maximum sentence of four years. In addressing the court this morning, Steinglass had sharp words for Trump, stating that “the defendant’s conduct constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law itself.” Ultimately, however, he and his team agreed with Merchan’s previous recommendation of unconditional discharge. “The American public has the right to a presidency unencumbered to pending legal matters… imposing this sentence ensures that,” Steinglass said.
“I very, very much disagree with much of what the government just said about this case,” said Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche, speaking from Mar-a-Lago alongside the president, arguing against the characterizations of his client made by the prosecution. “I’m totally innocent. I did nothing wrong,” the president-elect said of the verdict against him, describing the proceedings as a “political witch-hunt,” a phrase he and his allies have employed throughout the trial. “It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work.”
After both sides spoke, Merchan ultimately came through on the unconditional discharge, stating that “legal protections afforded to the office of the President of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant.”
Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon to be inaugurated as President on January 20th.
