US President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced without penalty after being found guilty in his New York hush-money case, setting him on track to become the first American president sworn into office as a convicted felon in his upcoming Jan. 20 inauguration.
Trump made a virtual appearance for the court proceedings and lashed out at what he deemed an unfair process, hours after the Supreme Court shot down his bid to avoid sentencing.
“I am totally innocent. I did nothing wrong,” said Trump, who is still under a gag order in the case.
“This has been a political witch hunt,” he said.
“It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election,” he added, referring to last fall’s presidential election, which he won.
Technically, Trump could have been sentenced to up to four years in prison, but Judge Juan Merchan handed down a sentence of an unconditional discharge for the 34 counts Trump was convicted of falsifying business records in May to cover up $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The payments were made to keep Daniels’ story of an alleged 2006 affair with Trump from being made public during the 2016 presidential election.
The special circumstance of the unconditional discharge means that Trump will not have to serve prison time, nor pay monetary penalties.
