US President-elect Donald Trump has been sentenced in New York on 34 felony counts revolving around hush money payments and falsified business records, but will serve no jail time. Handing down the sentence, Judge Juan Mearchan alluded to the "unique and remarkable set of circumstances" in which the trial took place. He reiterated that US presidents are ordinary citizens in the eyes of the court before announcing the sentence: an unconditional discharge, a device in New York law that allows a judge to impose a sentence carrying no imprisonment, fine or mandated probation when they deem that such punishments would carry no public interest. A unanimous jury last May found the president-elect guilty in the case, which revolved around payments he ordered to the adult film actress Stormy Daniels in return for her silence about their sexual relationship, as well as Trump's subsequent efforts to hide the payments. Trump viewed the sentencing remotely from his residence at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, where he has been preparing for the start of his presidency on 20 January. Addressing the court via video link, he insisted he is innocent, described the trial as "a very terrible experience," intimated that the case was brought illegitimately via a conspiracy among his adversaries, said that his former lawyer-turned-star prosecution witness Michael Cohen was "totally discredited," and declared that his winning the 2024 election rendered the court's verdict irrelevant. The upshot is that Trump will become both the second US president to serve non-consecutive terms and the first to carry a criminal conviction while in office. He is already the first to have been impeached twice, though neither impeachment resulted in a conviction. At the hearing, lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass described Trump as exhibiting "disdain" for the US' core institutions and the rule of law and said the sentence "cements" his "status as a convicted felon" — but also agreed with the unconditional discharge, which was widely expected. Steinglass also noted that Trump's public behaviour during the trial included screeds against the judge, his family, public prosecutors and the jury — a campaign that he said "caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm's way". Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, told the court that the case should never have been brought in the first place. Trump has nominated him to serve as deputy attorney general in the incoming administration. The sentencing, which was postponed for the duration of the 2024 election campaign, came after the US Supreme Court refused to step in and block it at the last minute. Two of the court's conservative members, Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett sided with their three liberal-leaning colleagues to deny Trump's motion on a 5-4 vote. From the outset, Trump has described the New York case as a "witch hunt" against him, framing it as part of an alleged campaign of illegal "lawfare" waged by the Democrats to sabotage his political career. He at no point provided any evidence for this claim. Conversely, during all three of his presidential campaigns, his presidency and now the transition to his second term, Trump has repeatedly threatened to instruct the federal judiciary to prosecute his political enemies and journalists for alleged, usually unspecified crimes. Such is the persistence of these threats that there have been suggestions that the outgoing president, Joe Biden, should preemptively pardon numerous senior Democrats and other public figures before Trump takes office, even though no charges have been levelled against them. The New York case marks Trump's first full criminal conviction and sentencing. Since he won the 2024 election, several other cases brought against him have been thrown out by judges he appointed or abandoned. A fight is underway to release the report detailing the evidence assembled by Jack Smith, the Justice Department's special counsel, in a case related to Trump's effort to overturn his loss at the 2020 election and his involvement in the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol. Trump will not be able to pardon himself from the New York hush money conviction because the presidential pardon only applies to federal cases, not those tried at the state level. — Euronews
