Unconditional discharge imposed in New York hush money case

President-elect Donald Trump was convicted without any penalties Friday in his New York hush money case, 10 days before he was inaugurated for a second term in the White House.

Manhattan judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge,” which means no jail time, probation or fines.

However, the verdict will still formally make Trump the first convicted felon to ever occupy the Oval Office.

“It was a very terrible experience,” Trump, who participated in the hearing remotely, said before receiving his sentence.

“It was a political witch hunt,” he said, maintaining that the case was brought “to damage my reputation and, as a result, lose the election.”

In May, a jury found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a secret $130,000 payment his then-personal lawyer paid to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels was paid to remain silent about claims she had sex with Trump a decade earlier, claims the president-elect denies.

Merchan said that an unconditional discharge is the only lawful sentence he can issue without violating the office of the president.

Protecting this office “is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.

“Donald Trump, an ordinary citizen, Donald Trump, a criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such significant protections,” he said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass noted at the beginning of the hearing that each charge against Trump carries a penalty of up to four years in state prison.

But “The nation recommends a sentence of unconditional release,” Steinglass said.

“We must respect the office of the president and remember that this defendant will be inaugurated as president in 10 days,” he explained.

But the prosecutor also sharply criticized Trump for his relentless attacks on the justice system throughout the case, saying the president-elect “has caused lasting damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system.”

Trump, who appeared on the monitor wearing a red striped tie and sitting in front of American flags, frowned and looked bored during Steinglass's remarks.

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche responded that he disagreed with the prosecutor about the merits of the case and Trump's conduct.

“It's a sad day for President Trump and his family and friends, but it's also… a sad day for this country,” said Blanche, who Trump has chosen to serve as deputy U.S. attorney general in the next administration.

Despite complaints made in the courtroom, Trump claimed victory on social media after the hearing.

“Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, un-American witch hunt,” Trump wrote Social truth. In his post, he said the non-sentence sentence proves there is no merit in the case, even though Merchan made it clear he was granting the unconditional release because Trump would soon become president.

Thursday's hearing came a day after Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, attended former President Jimmy Carter's funeral in Washington. The Trumps sat with every other living former president.

On Thursday evening, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the final legal barrier to Trump's sentencing, denying his request to block proceedings in the case.

The decision was narrow – 5 to 4 – and Trump nominee Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined fellow conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and three liberal justices to deliver the majority decision.

The ruling noted that Trump's sentence would impose a “relatively insignificant” burden on his presidential duties because he was expected to be sentenced without an actual penalty, and that he still had the right to appeal over claims that Merchan improperly admitted certain test evidence.

Trump's lawyers have argued that he is immune from criminal prosecution, but courts have repeatedly rejected that claim in connection with the hush money case because he was not yet president when the initial conduct in the case occurred.