Washington DC: Today, Donald Trump’s conviction in a hush money case was upheld by a US court, making him the first felon in the White House. The ‘unconditional discharge’ he received was for concealing unreported payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Despite being found guilty of his charges, the president-elect will not be imprisoned or punished because he has been elected president of the United States and will take the oath of office on January 20. This position carries with it the privilege of being above the law both while in office and after.
Therefore, the judge had to spare the president-elect even if the 34 counts of Donald Trump manipulating company documents on which he was found guilty in May 2024 contained the possibility of jail time. Donald Trump would have served a four-year prison sentence if he hadn’t been president. As President, he will now spend four more years in the White House.
Given that he would not be imprisoned, Donald Trump chose to participate electronically in the court session rather than physically attend.
Judge Juan Merchan of New York delivered the sentence, saying, “This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgement of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land, is an unconditional discharge.”
“Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances,” the judge continued. The judge had no choice but to grant the former president a “unconditional discharge” because the constitution protected the nation’s highest position. Any other ruling ran the risk of infringing on the nation’s highest official’s immunity.
Even prior to the punishment, Donald Trump made a desperate attempt to circumvent it by using all of his resources and authority to avoid the questionable distinction of being the first felon to hold the White House.
Donald Trump said he thought the entire legal process was a “setback for the New York court system” only hours before the sentencing. According to him, it has been a “terrible experience” and “it was done to damage my reputation, just so that I may lose the election,” he said.
Donald Trump, however, was forced to sit through witness after witness testify against him during the proceedings, claiming that he had fraudulently concealed illegal payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to prevent her from disclosing their tryst before the 2016 presidential election, which he eventually won.
When the US Supreme Court decided that Donald Trump’s sentence could go forward, it was a major blow to his best efforts to halt the criminal proceedings against him.
Ten days before Donald Trump takes office again for a second term as US president, he was sentenced today.
