Donald Trump spent six weeks in a Manhattan courtroom for himself criminal hush money During the trial last year, the former president never said a word on the record.
That changed on Friday in the presidential candidate’s sentence.
Trump was originally sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of falsifying business records as part of an alleged scheme to influence the 2016 election by paying an adult film actress, who said she had a long-denied relationship with Trump in 2006, for three months. after his wife gave birth to his youngest son.
Appearing in the same courtroom where the trial was held, Trump — now president-elect — used Friday’s sentencing to free one. a seven-minute recital His grievances with the criminal justice system.
He proclaimed his innocence, bragged about his election victory, accused prosecutors of engaging in a political witch hunt, criticized his former lawyer and his home state, and contrasted his experience with an ongoing natural disaster.
“With everything that’s going on in our country today, with a city burning to the ground — one of our biggest cities, burning to the ground — the wars going on out of control, all the inflationary issues and the attacks on countries and all the terrible things that are going on , I was impeached for misrepresenting a legal expense,” Trump said.
The unprecedented hearing Trump attended virtually from his Mar-a-Lago Florida home, capping a messy and sometimes embarrassing years-long scandal that made him the first former president to be criminally convicted. Although the sentence cemented his status as a convicted felon, Trump suggested his election victory in November was a political acquittal, saying voter support was a stark rejection of what he called “government weaponry.”
Attorney Emil Bove watches from a distance as President-elect Donald Trump appears before New York State Judge Juan Merchan in New York Criminal Court on January 10, 2025 in New York.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
“The people of our country were able to see that firsthand because they saw the case in your court,” Trump said, vowing to appeal the ruling. “They saw this firsthand and then voted, and I won and got the most votes of any Republican candidate in history.”
Given Trump’s election victory and subsequent presidential immunity, Judge Juan Merchan said it was the “only legitimate penalty” for an unconditional discharge. The unusual sentence — which included no punishment for Trump’s actions — ended Trump’s conviction, allowing him to appeal.
Merchan suggested that Trump would have received a harsher sentence if he had been a private citizen, but that the “usual legal protections” provided by the office of the president left him no choice.
“It is the office of the president that gives the office holder these broad protections, and it was the citizens of this nation who recently decided that you should receive the benefits of those protections, including but not limited to the Supremacy Clause and presidential immunity,” Merchan said.
But Merchan made it clear that while President-elect Trump limited his sentencing options, it did not change the fact that a New York jury of twelve convicted the former president of what Merchan described in a filing last week as “premeditated and ongoing fraud.” .”
“Despite the extraordinary breadth of these protections, one power they do not provide is the power to overturn a jury verdict,” Merchan said in court Friday.
Merchan previously criticized Trump in a court filing for his “disdain for the Third Branch” and “disrespect for judges, juries, grand juries and the entire justice system.” But the judge declined to specifically criticize Trump during Friday’s hearing.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass thought otherwise. The Manhattan assistant DA said Trump “caused lasting damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system and put court officers at risk.”
“Instead of preserving, protecting and defending our constitutionally established system of criminal justice, the defendant — the one and future president of the United States — has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” Steinglass said.
According to Steinglass, the probation officer who interviewed Trump last year found that Trump “sees himself above the law and will not accept responsibility for his actions.” Steinglass pointed out that Trump threatened to retaliate against prosecutors, criticized the trial as corrupt and “too many times to tabulate” fraud and made “relentless” attacks on the justice system.
“Far from expressing any remorse for his criminal conduct, the defendant has deliberately created contempt for our judicial institutions and the rule of law, which he has done for his own purposes and to encourage others to reject the jury’s verdict that he believes is so reprehensible,” Steinglass said.
Despite all that, Steinglass said the Manhattan attorney recommended against any punishment for the former president, adopting the same reasoning as Judge Merchan.
“The American public has a right to a presidency unencumbered by court proceedings or the obligations associated with ongoing punishment,” Steinglass said.
Nineteen months after Trump was indicted, Merchan ended his sentence with a kind note for the defendant who would become the president of the United States in ten days.
“Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you take on your second term. Thank you,” Merchan said.
