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Days before Donald Trump’s re-entry into the White House, he avoided any sanctions in a historic criminal trial on “hush money” charges.
At the hearing in Manhattan on Friday, on which Trump Appearing from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Judge Juan Mercan declined to sentence the candidate to prison time or pay any fines, instead freeing him on “unconditional release.”
Mercan, who presided over the first criminal trial of a former US president in the spring, said before announcing his decision that “the only legal punishment . . . Without touching the highest position in the land,” he says.
The director added that despite the “extreme protection” given to office officials, they “do not diminish the seriousness of the crime” or give them the “authority to overturn a judicial decision.”
Trump, wearing a look of resignation and gloom, has previously opposed the case, calling it a “tool of the government,” and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who sits in court, has said he never wants to bring the case.
“I’m absolutely innocent, I didn’t destroy anything. . . “I’m being sued for calling legal expenses legal expenses,” Trump told the court. I think it’s a shame for New York.
The proceedings echoed the media frenzy that accompanied Trump’s seven-week trial last year, which took place in the midst of his third presidential campaign. It’s a symbolic culmination of years of efforts by state and federal prosecutors to impeach Trump on a range of crimes, from trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election to withholding classified documents after he left the White House earlier.
The two federal criminal charges against the 78-year-old were in jeopardy after the Supreme Court ruled this year that presidents’ immunity from prosecution for official acts while in office is broad. Following the agency’s longstanding policy of not going after presidents, they are now being hurt by Joe Biden’s Justice Department.
In a Georgia election meddling case, the district attorney was dismissed for failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a key prosecutor she brought on the case.
The Manhattan case, the first proposed and the only conclusive one, also failed in Trump’s re-election.
Trump was found guilty of 34 felony counts after a jury found he falsified business records related to payments he made to sex film star Stormy Daniels, and threatened to go public with allegations of an affair with a real estate mogul. 2016 election.
But Bragg did not fight many attempts to delay the sentencing. Once Trump defeated Kamala Harris in November, he refused to seek any punishment for the president-elect beyond Friday’s symbolic sentencing.
Trump, who has consistently criticized the process as a “witch hunt” by Democratic prosecutors, has nevertheless tried to block the conviction by appealing to New York’s highest courts and the US Supreme Court.
Hours before sentencing, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 Thursday night to deny Trump’s request, saying there was no sign the proceeding would significantly disrupt Trump’s plans to re-enter the White House.
Trump, who has brought charges against his political enemies and himself, plans to install several of his top lawyers in key positions, including within the Justice Department, when he returns to Washington.
