Unconditional discharge imposed in NY hush money case

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

Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge,” meaning no jail, no probation and no fine.

But the sentence will still formally make Trump the first criminal convict ever to occupy the Oval Office.

“This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump, who attended the hearing remotely, said before receiving the sentence.

“This has been a political witch hunt,” he said, claiming the case was brought “to damage my reputation so I would lose the election.”

A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment his then-personal lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels was paid for her silence about claims she had sex once with Trump a decade earlier, claims the president-elect has denied.

Merchan said that an unconditional discharge was the only lawful sentence he could deliver without encroaching on the office of the presidency.

The protection of that office “is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.

“Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections,” he said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass noted at the start of the hearing that the charges against Trump each carry a sentence of up to four years in state prison.

But “the People recommend a sentence of unconditional release,” said Steinglass.

“We must be respectful of the office of the presidency, and mindful of the fact that this defendant will be inaugurated as president in 10 days,” he explained.

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

Trump, appearing on a monitor wearing a red striped tie and sitting in front of American flags, frowned and looked bored during Steinglass’ remarks.

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

“It’s a sad day for President Trump and his family and his friends, but it’s also … a sad day for this country,” said Blanche, whom Trump picked to be deputy U.S. attorney general in the next administration.

Despite his complaints in the courtroom, Trump declared victory on social media after the hearing.

“The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. His post claimed that the penalty-free sentence proved the case lacked merit, even though Merchan made clear that he gave an unconditional discharge because Trump will soon be president.

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

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday night lifted the final legal barrier to Trump’s sentencing, refusing his request to block proceedings in the case.

The decision was narrow — 5-to-4 — with Trump appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining fellow conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and three liberal justices to issue the majority decision.

The ruling noted that Trump’s sentence would impose a “relatively insubstantial” burden on his presidential responsibilities since he was expected to receive a sentence that entails no actual punishment, and that he still has the right to appeal on claims that Merchan improperly allowed certain evidence at trial.

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