Trump called the case “a weaponization of government” and “an embarrassment to New York.”
With Trump 10 days from inauguration, Merchan had聽聽called an unconditional discharge, and prosecutors didn鈥檛 oppose it.
Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided Trump鈥檚 attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.
鈥淭he once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,鈥� prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.
Rather than show remorse, Trump has “bred disdain” for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, “has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm鈥檚 way.”
As he appeared from his Florida home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he鈥檚 tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.
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“Legally, this case should not have been brought,” Blanche said, reiterating Trump鈥檚 intention to appeal the verdict. That technically can鈥檛 happen until he鈥檚 sentenced.
Regardless of the outcome, Trump, a Republican, will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency
The judge has indicated that he plans the unconditional discharge 鈥� a rarity in felony convictions 鈥� partly to avoid complicated constitutional issues that would arise if he imposed a penalty that overlapped with Trump鈥檚 presidency.
Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, “Trump is guilty.” The other held one that said, “Stop partisan conspiracy” and “Stop political witch hunt.”
The hush money case聽聽to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump鈥檚 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter聽聽the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.
“I never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,” the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.
Bragg鈥檚 office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed “serious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York鈥檚 financial marketplace.”
While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump鈥檚 political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off 鈥斅�聽at the time, Michael Cohen 鈥� as part of聽聽to keep voters from hearing about Trump鈥檚 alleged extramarital escapades.
Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said Cohen鈥檚 reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says that鈥檚 simply what they were.
“There was nothing else it could have been called,” he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding, “I was hiding nothing.”
Trump鈥檚 lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed.
The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from聽聽that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity.
Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.
On one hand, Trump鈥檚 defense argued that immunity聽, such as testimony about some of his conversations with then-White House communications director Hope Hicks.
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And after Trump聽, his lawyers argued that the case had to be scrapped to聽听补苍诲听.
Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he聽, citing a need for “finality.” He wrote that he strove to balance Trump鈥檚 need to govern, the Supreme Court鈥檚 immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the public鈥檚 expectation that “no one is above the law.”
Trump鈥檚 lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.
Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.
After Trump鈥檚 election, special counsel Jack Smith聽聽over Trump鈥檚 handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level聽聽is locked in uncertainty after聽聽from it.
