Protestors of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump gather outside New York Criminal Court in Manhattan on the day of a sentencing hearing in a criminal case where he was convicted in 2024 on charges in New York City on January 10, 2025.
Less than two weeks before Inauguration Day, a New York judge declined to penalize President-elect Donald Trump on Friday after a jury found him guilty of falsifying business records. The decision formalized Trump as the first former president to be sentenced for a crime and cemented his status as the first convicted felon to be sworn in as president – but did little else.
Though the unconditional discharge counts as a sentence, he received no punishment. Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling means that Trump will not be fined, will not receive jail time and will not be given probation. Merchan called the circumstances surrounding the case “unique and remarkable” but said the case itself was just like any other proceeding.
“It is the legal protections afforded to the office of the president of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant,” he said from the bench in his New York courtroom, while Trump and his lawyer attended via videoconference before a backdrop of American flags.
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani says Trump’s sentencing is the result of him “enjoying the benefits” of being a former president and president-elect. He added that the non-substative sentence was uncommon. Merchan could have sentenced Trump to up to four years in prison.
“Trump got off easy, but these weren’t serious charges. Trump had a good argument that they should have only been misdemeanors,” he says. “With no criminal history, Trump was likely facing a fine and probation had he not been reelected in November.”
A jury found Trump guilty last year on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star prior to his 2016 presidential victory. Months after his conviction, the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have immunity for official acts, which Trump’s lawyers argued was grounds to overturn the conviction. The sentencing was postponed and rescheduled multiple times.
Unless the 34 convictions are overturned in the future, Trump will have felonies on his record. Under federal law, he won’t be able to carry a firearm, but the incoming president will still be able to vote. Registered voters in Florida who are convicted of a felony lose the right to vote until their sentence is complete, which Trump’s now is.
Trump characterized his sentence as a loss for prosecutors and said the unconditional discharge means the entire case was a “hoax.”
“I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE. That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED,” he posted on social media. “As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference.”
The saga that was Trump’s hush-money case is likely not over. Trump said Friday morning that he plans to appeal the conviction.
“Trump will appeal his felony convictions based on presidential immunity, first to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, then the New York Court of Appeals, and then the United States Supreme Court,” Rahmani says. “Four of the Supreme Court justices were willing to grant his emergency appeal, so he has a favorable audience there.”
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Trump’s final effort to halt the sentencing. In a 5-4 vote, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett – two conservatives – joined the three liberal justices who denied Trump’s last-ditch effort to avoid sentencing. Why? Because the sentence likely won’t matter.
“The burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing,” the order said.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh voted to grant the application.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Trump indicated he was fine with their ruling.
“I read it, and I thought it was a fair decision, actually,” he said during an event at his Mar-a-Lago resort Thursday. “I’ll do my little thing tomorrow. They can have fun with their political opponent.”
