Donald Trump spared jail at hush money sentencing

US President-elect Donald Trump will not go to jail or pay a fine over his criminal conviction stemming from hush money paid to an adult film actress, a judge has ruled, but the sentencing will place a judgment of guilt on his record.

Justice Juan Merchan's sentencing of Mr Trump, 78, to unconditional discharge closes a case that had loomed over his bid to retake the White House just days before his 20 January inauguration.

By granting an unconditional discharge, Justice Merchan would place a judgment of guilt on Mr Trump's permanent record - without any other legal penalty such as custody, a fine or probation.

"Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances," said Justice Merchan.

"The only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land is an unconditional discharge," he added.

Mr Trump, who pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict, is the first US president to take office with a criminal conviction.

Appearing virtually from Florida with his lawyer Todd Blanche on TV screens beamed to the courtroom with two American flags in the background, Mr Trump said he was innocent and did nothing wrong.

"It's been a political witch hunt," Mr Trump said, wearing a red tie with white stripes.

"It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election and obviously that didn't work," he said.

"I'm totally innocent, I did nothing wrong," said Mr Trump, who did not testify during the six-week trial last year.

He said at his sentencing that the case had been a "terrible experience".

The hearing, just days before his 20 January inauguration, will close a case that loomed for a time over his successful bid last year to retake the White House.

Justice Merchan, who oversaw the six-week trial, had signaled previously he did not plan to send Mr Trump to jail or to fine him.

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office supported Justice Merchan's sentence.

"The most sensible sentence prior to his inauguration is an unconditional discharge," Mr Steinglass said, adding that any other sentence would disrupt Mr Trump’s ability to do his job.

But Mr Steinglass said the jury's unanimous guilty verdict must be respected by cementing Mr Trump's status as a convicted felon while he appeals.

"This defendant has caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system," Mr Steinglass said.

Todd Blanche, Mr Trump's lawyer, said he disagreed with Mr Steinglass.

"We certainly intend on appealing," Mr Blanche said. "Legally, this case should not have been brought."

Mr Steinglass also said Mr Trump had also engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine the legitimacy of the case and "purposefully bred disdain for our judicial institutions and rule of law."

First presidential conviction

An unconditional discharge is a measure without any sanctions or restriction that nonetheless upholds the jury's guilty verdict - and Mr Trump's infamy as the first former president to be convicted of a felony.

The 78-year-old Trump had potentially faced up to four years in prison.

"He's sticking his middle finger at the judge, the jury, the system of justice, and laughing," said Pace University law professor and former prosecutor Bennett Gershman ahead of the sentencing.

Outside the courthouse, Trump supporters held a giant banner emblazoned with their idol's name that was buffeted by high winds.

There was also a small vigil of anti-Trump demonstrators behind a hoarding reading "Trump is guilty."

Mr Trump's counsel had argued sentencing should have been postponed while the Republican appealed his conviction, but New York state Associate Justice Ellen Gesmer rejected that on Tuesday.

Mr Trump repeatedly called the prosecution a "witch hunt" which Steinglass said was "designed to have a chilling effect."

"This defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system," the career prosecutor said.

Mr Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche said he "very, very much disagree with much of what the (prosecution) just said."

Mr Trump was certified as the winner of the 2024 presidential election on Monday, four years after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol as he sought to overturn his 2020 defeat.

34 counts of falsifying business records

Mr Bragg, a Democrat, charged Mr Trump, a Republican, in March 2023 with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 ($126,000) payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with Mr Trump, who denied it.

Mr Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton in that election. Critics of the businessman-turned politician cited the charges and other legal entanglements he faced to bolster their contention that he was unfit for public office.

Mr Trump flipped the script. He argued the case - along with three other criminal indictments and civil lawsuits accusing him of fraud, defamation and sexual abuse - was an effort by opponents to weaponise the justice system against him and harm his reelection campaign.

During the trial, Justice Merchan fined Mr Trump $10,000 (€9,700) for violating a gag order. The Manhattan jury found Mr Trump guilty of all 34 counts on May 30. Prosecutors argued that despite the tawdry nature of the allegations, the case was an attempt to corrupt the 2016 election.

As recently as 3 January, Mr Trump called the judge a "radical partisan" in a post on his Truth Social platform.

In a decision that day, Justice Merchan said that setting aside the verdict would "undermine the Rule of Law in immeasurable ways" and wrote that Mr Trump's behavior during the trial showed disrespect for the judiciary.

"Defendant has gone to great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole," Justice Merchan said.