Donald Trump Spared Prison Or Fine In Felony Conviction
US President-elect Donald Trump will not go to prison or face any sort of punishment for his criminal conviction related to hush money paid to a porn star.
Judge Juan Merchan unconditionally discharged Trump, which means the president-elect will not face any penalty for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. While the judgement makes Trump a convicted felon, he will face no punishment other than the legal designation.
Merchan said he was imposing the sentence because the U.S. Constitution shields presidents from criminal prosecution but added that said protections afforded to the office “do not reduce the seriousness of a crime or justify its commission in any way.”
“The considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protection afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” he said. “Despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase jury verdicts.”
Trump has pledged to appeal the guilty verdict, which he had described as an attempt to thwart his reelection campaign.
“This has been a very terrible experience,” he said before sentencing. “I’m totally innocent, I did nothing wrong.”
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