NEW YORK - US President-elect Donald Trump called his criminal prosecution a “disgrace to the system” on Friday ahead of his sentencing for covering up hush money payments to a porn star.
“It was done to damage my reputation so I would lose the election and obviously that didn’t work,” he said.
“It’s a disgrace to the system.”
Justice Juan Merchan, who oversaw the six-week trial, gave Trump an unconditional discharge on all 34 charges, as expected.
“I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office,” he said at the end of a brief hearing on Friday morning in Manhattan.
The ruling came just days before Trump is due to be inaugurated for a second presidential term on Jan 20.
The judge said he had determined that an unconditional discharge was “the only lawful sentence, without encroaching upon the highest office of the land”.
An unconditional discharge means Trump does not face any fines, probation or jail time.
But by granting an unconditional discharge, a judgement of guilt remains on Trump’s permanent record — without any other legal penalty such as custody, a fine or probation.
Justice Merchan acknowledged the issue of presidential immunity, but also explained the parameters of those protections.
Though the protections for the office are “extraordinary”, he said, “one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict”.
Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, said the jury’s unanimous guilty verdict must be respected by cementing 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,” Steinglass said.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s lawyer, said he disagreed with Steinglass.
“We certainly intend on appealing,” Blanche said. “Legally, this case should not have been brought.”
Steinglass also said 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”.
Trump, 78, pleaded not guilty and has vowed to appeal the guilty verdict.
He fought tooth and nail to avoid the spectacle of being compelled to appear before a state-level judge days before returning to the White House. But the US Supreme Court on Thursday rejected Trump’s last-minute bid to halt the sentencing.
The sentencing marks the culmination of the first-ever criminal case brought against a US president, past or present. Trump will be the first president to take office with a criminal conviction.
Trump was charged in March 2023 with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump, who denied it.