President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in the Story Daniels hush money case, with Judge Juan Merchan ordering an “unconditional discharge” on 34 felony counts.
The sentence means that Trump will face no jail time or other punishment, but will retain a felony conviction on his record.
Trump did not attend the sentencing in person in New York, preferring to appear via video feed from his home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. He spoke briefly before the judge imposed the sentence, calling the proceedings unfair.
Trump’s lawyers had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene to stop the sentencing, arguing that he should be immune as president-elect from any criminal proceedings. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 on Thursday to allow the sentencing to proceed.
Trump is expected to appeal the conviction, and may yet prevail on his immunity argument.
The president-elect was found guilty by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with the payoff to Daniels to buy her silence during the 2016 campaign. Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued that he sought to conceal the transaction to improperly hide an affair with Daniels from voters.
Merchan indicated in a ruling last week that he would order an unconditional discharge, finding that to be “the most viable solution to ensure finality and allow Defendant to pursue his appellate options.”
Merchan noted that he would have to sentence Trump before Jan. 20, given that he will enjoy presidential immunity from prosecution once he is sworn in. Merchan also considered the possibility of holding off on sentencing until after Trump’s term is completed, but rejected that idea as impractical.
Following Trump’s victory in November, a judge dismissed the federal case against him in connection with efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat, acknowledging that the immunity doctrine would make it impossible to proceed. A different judge had already dismissed the case against him for withholding classified records.
