Trump hush money sentencing live: Scolds court in tirade as he learns his punishment

Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Donald Trump to unconditional discharge.

That means Trump won’t receive any jail time and will avoid having to pay a hefty fine or probation.

He is now cemented into history as the first president coming into office as a convicted felon. Trump will be sworn-in at the Capitol in just 10 days on January 20, 2025.

Although he won’t be able to possess a firearm as a felon, he is still able to serve as commander-in-chief.

He will also be able to continue to vote in his home state of Florida. The state allows convicted felons to vote as long as they are not behind bars.

The sentencing hearing has now concluded.

A furious president-elect Donald Trump slammed the court and said hush money case had been ‘terrible’ as he tuned in virtually for his sentencing hearing.

‘This has been a terrible experience. I think it’s been a terrible setback for New York,’ Trump, 78, said.

The Republican, who will be inaugurated in 10 days, appeared in court remotely and glared through a TV screen alongside his attorney Todd Blanche.

Two American flags stood behind him as listened to Judge Juan Merchan outline the extraordinary case.

Trump called it a ‘political witch hunt’ and claimed it was a case Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg never wanted to bring.

‘It was done to damage my reputation,’ Trump said.

‘The people of our country got to see this first hand and voted, I won and got the largest number of votes of any Republican candidate in history.’

Trump also attacked his former fixer and a key witness in the case Michael Cohen, calling him a ‘totally discredited person.’

He also said Cohen has ‘no standing,’ has been disbarred and yet, he has been allowed to talk like he’s George Washington.

‘He’s not George Washington,’ Trump said.

Arizona Republican Rep. Eli Crane, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, lashed out at Democrats after Donald Trump was sentenced to an ‘unconditional discharge’ in his New York trial.

‘Today’s ‘sentencing’ of President Trump is a joke,’ the former Navy SEAL said on X reacting to the result of the trial, which did not include jail time.

‘Democrats should give up on their Trump Derangement Syndrome and join us in pursuing policies that help We the People. Just ten days until we are fully back.’

The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt. After spending tens of millions of dollars, wasting over 6 years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the City and State, coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, 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. The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History.

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.

Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

At the end of his remarks Judge Merchan told Trump:

Sir, I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office.

Indiana Republican Rep. Rudy Yakym tore into Democrats over President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing Friday.

‘Today’s sentencing is an unfortunate reminder that Democrats will stop at nothing, including weaponizing the justice system to try and destroy President Trump,’ Yakym posted on X.

‘Rest assured, their efforts have and will continue to fail.’

‘America’s comeback begins in 10 days.’

Prosecutors said in Manhattan court Friday that Judge Merchan’s sentence ‘cements’ Trump’s feleny conviction.

Manhattan assistant DA Josh Steinglass told the court that the people recommend a sentence of unconditional discharge, as was expected.

He said the public had a right to a presidency that was unencumbered by the ongoing trial, which has already dragged on for months. But the judge imposing the sentence now ‘cements the defendant’s status as a convicted felon while he pursues appeal,’ he said.

That would make Trump the first president to be sworn in as a convicted felon.

At the end of the trial in May, Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The seriousness of the charges meant it was open to the judge to impose a jail sentence.

However, under New York state law, they were ‘E’ level felony charges – the lowest level of felony – meaning a jail sentence is not mandatory.

A fine or probation were also sentences the judge could impose for such charges.

But Judge Merchan recently indicated he plans a ‘no-penalty’ sentence called an ‘unconditional discharge.’

An ‘unconditional discharge’ means no jail time, no probation, and no fines for Trump, but it will go on his permanent record.

From Daniel Bates in New York court:

President-elect Donald Trump has logged in virtually from Florida for his sentencing hearing in the New York.

The glum-looking Trump appeared on-screen seated in front of two American flags, according to DailyMail.com’s reporter in the Manhattan courtroom.

The President-elect appeared sour-faced as he sat next to his lawyer Todd Blanche from what appeared to be his estate, Mar-a-Lago.

The video of Trump will stream live to the court TV for the hearing.

The president-elect nominated Blanche to serve as deputy attorney general in the Justice Department when he takes office on January 20.

It was a bizarre scene in the court with photographers allowed in the court to take pictures of Trump appearing on TV.

The president-elect’s other hush money case lawyer Emil Bove, who is also nominated to serve in Trump’s administration, is in court in person.

Donald Trump’s defense attorney Emil Bove has entered the court along with prosecutors.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg has not yet entered.

Donald Trump will be given the opportunity to speak before he is sentenced in the hush money case.

Before the judge announces his fate, the court will hear from prosecutors, the defense and potentially the president-elect himself.

The court is usually left on tenterhooks before the sentence is handed down, but Judge Juan Merchan also already signaled that he will give an unconditional discharge.

Donald Trump won’t be physically in New York for his sentencing within the hour.

Instead, he will be appearing virtually via Zoom.

He is currently in Palm Beach, Florida, at his Mar-a-Lago estate. He met Thursday evening with Republican governors to map out his MAGA agenda for the next four years.

Donald Trump, who spoke at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, called the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow the sentencing to happen a ‘fair decision.’

It’s actually a very good opinion for us… I respect the court’s opinion.

Trump is expected to appeal his 34-count conviction in its entirety to the Supreme Court once again after sentencing today.

With the clock ticking down to the Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app or face a U.S. ban, the Supreme Court will hear arguments for and against the wildly popular video sharing platform on Friday.

And it pits President-elect Donald Trump, who credits TikTok with helping power him to election victory, against former allies in the form of Mike Pence, his vice president for four years, and Mitch McConnell, who led Republicans in the Senate.

At issue is whether it poses a national security risk, potentially feeding data from American phones to the Chinese Communist Party via its owners ByteDance.

The company will argue that the ban, passed by Congress signed into law by President Joe Biden, should be overturned.

And it has found an unlikely ally in Trump, who pushed for its ban during his first term, but now wants the law put on hold.

‘It’s a tough decision to make,’ he told CNBC in March interview. ‘Frankly, there are a lot of people on TikTok who love it.’

Donald Trump called the Supreme Court rejecting his bid to delay his hush money case as a ‘fair decision’ but vowed to appeal on Thursday night.

The 78-year-old appeared content with the decision, even though conservative justices Amy Coney Barrett – who he appointed to the court – and Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the liberals who supported the decision.

‘We’re going to appeal anyway, just psychologically, because frankly it’s a disgrace,’ he said, though he noted he found a silver lining in reading the Supreme Court decision.

‘I read it and I thought it was a fair decision, actually, so I’ll do my little thing tomorrow. They can have fun with their little political opponent,’ he said, trying to paint the judge as politically-motivated.

Trump’s attorneys had asked for the sentencing be delayed as he appeals the verdict.

They argued that Trump is immune from criminal proceedings as president-elect, and said that some of the evidence used in the Manhattan trial violated last summer’s Supreme Court immunity decision.

The Supreme Court should immediately stop proceedings ‘to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government,’ his team argues.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is facing criticism after he revealed he spoke with President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Their call happened one day before Trump’s lawyers made a last-ditch effort to have the country’s highest court stop sentencing in his hush money case.

The conservative justice said he spoke with the president-elect by phone on Tuesday to recommend a former law clerk for a job.

‘William Levi, one of my former law clerks, asked me to take a call from President-elect Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position,’ Alito said in a statement.

‘I agreed to discuss this matter with President-elect Trump, and he called me yesterday afternoon,’ Alito continued.

The statement from Alito was released after the call was first reported by ABC News.

‘We also did not discuss any other matter that is pending or might in the future come before the Supreme Court or any past Supreme Court decisions involving the President-elect,’ Alito said.

Sentencing in Trump’s hush money case is set for Friday, January 10, but the president-elect had been trying to have the case dismissed.

The Supreme Court rejected his bid to throw out his conviction on Thursday night, setting up a showdown in court Friday morning.

Trump, 78, was found guilty last May on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments made to keep Stormy Daniels quiet about an alleged affair before the 2016 election.

Donald Trump was in the New York Supreme Court every day for the marathon hush money case last year.

He watched as the likes of Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen and loyal staff such as Hope Hicks testify.

During breaks in proceedings, he spoke to reporters and railed against the charges against him – describing them as a ‘witch hunt’.

But he is expected to appear remotely from Palm Beach as learns his punishment in the hush money face.

Big screens have been set up in the courtroom filled with reporters, lawyers and a sketch artist.

Donald Trump is likely to receive an unconditional discharge when he is sentenced in the hush money case.

It means the president-elect will not receive any jail time and will avoid a fine or probation.

However he will get a criminal record, which cements him in history as the first president coming into office as a convicted felon.

Judge Juan Merchan said his sentence is out of respect to the principle of presidential immunity, which will take effect after the inauguration on January 20.

The lighter sentence has been given to low-level offenders in New York, including lawyers who have failed to pay taxes, drivers who speed and trespassers.

President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced in the Stormy Daniels hush money case on Friday after the United States Supreme Court rejected his last-minute bid to halt the case.

The Court found 5-4 that Trump’s sentencing on 34 felony counts would not be an insurmountable burden as he takes back the White House, noting that Judge Juan Merchan has indicated he would not give the incoming president any jail time, fines or probation.

‘First, the alleged evidentiary violations as president-elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course of appeal,’ the unsigned ruling said.

‘Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the president elect’s responsibilities is relatively insurmountable in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge” after a brief virtual hearing.’

Among those who supported the decision were Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have delayed the sentencing, the order states.