NEW YORK—Republican U.S. President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge Friday for his role in a catch-and-kill hush-money scheme to silence critics during his first election bid over eight years ago.
Trump went to great lengths to cover up an affair he had with AVN Hall of Famer Stormy Daniels during a celebrity golf tournament hosted at Lake Tahoe in 2006.
Daniels, who maintains that her life and career have been upended by coming forward about her affair with the president-elect, was paid by former Trump fixer and attorney Michael Cohen. Cohen was convicted of felony campaign finance violations at the federal level in relation to this scheme to silence Daniels from sharing her story.
After a criminal trial last spring, in which a jury of his peers unanimously convicted him of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, the president-elect will be the first felon to take the highest office in the United States government.
In legal terms, an unconditional discharge was granted because of the Supreme Court’s expanded immunity shield, which protects presidents and high officeholders from criminal prosecution while exercising official duties.
Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan determined that Trump acted in an unofficial capacity to cover up the affair with Stormy Daniels, and the presidential immunity doctrine simply didn’t apply to this case.
After Trump and his legal team made several failed appeals and attempts to dismiss the case or to hide behind the immunity shield, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court agreed with Merchan on a split vote of 5-4, denying an emergency application to halt sentencing.
This blow came after the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, additionally declined to halt sentencing.
Similar efforts have also failed, including an attempt by the state of Missouri to sue the state of New York at the Supreme Court for violating the First Amendment rights of voters in a “political prosecution” of an opponent to outgoing President Joe Biden and 2024 Democratic Party nominee, outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the days leading up to the sentencing hearing, Trump maintained that sentencing would infringe on his ability to focus on the presidential transition and was a national security risk. There was never any backing to this claim, especially as it pertains to convincing the majority of high court justices who ruled against Donald Trump.
“The defendant’s conduct constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law itself,” said Josh Steinglass, one of the lead prosecutors in the Trump case, during the sentencing hearing. Steinglass serves the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the Democratic prosecutor who was accused of political bias by bringing the hush money case.
“This defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers and court in harm’s way,” said Steinglass.
Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s defense attorneys, responded to the prosecution’s claims by saying, “The voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves if this was a case that should've been brought. And they decided.”
Justice Merchan concluded the sentencing hearing, saying, "[The] trial was a paradox. ... Once doors closed, it was no more unique than the other 32 trials taking place in this courthouse at the same exact time."
"Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office," Merchan said before stepping down from the bench.
