Unconditional discharge imposed in NY hush money case

President-elect Donald Trump was convicted without penalty on Friday in his New York money laundering case, 10 days before he was inaugurated for a second term in the White House.

Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to an “unconditional release,” meaning no jail time, no probation and no parole.

But the sentence will also formally make Trump the first convicted felon to ever occupy the Oval Office.

“This was a very terrible experience,” said Trump, who attended the hearing remotely, before receiving the sentence.

“This has been a political witch hunt,” he said, claiming that the case was brought “to damage my reputation, because I lose the election.”

A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a $130,000 cash payment his personal attorney made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels was paid for her silence over claims she once had sex with Trump a decade earlier, claims the president-elect has denied.

Merchan said an unconditional release was the only legal sentence he could give without invading the office of the president.

The protection of that office “is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.

“Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protection,” he said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said at the beginning of the hearing that the charges against Trump carry a sentence of four years in state prison.

But “the People recommend a sentence of unconditional release,” Steinglass said.

“We have to be respectful of the office of the president, and pay attention to the fact that this accused will be inaugurated as president in 10 days,” he explained.

But the prosecutor also slammed Trump for his relentless attacks on the justice system throughout the case, saying the president-elect “has caused lasting damage to the public’s perception of the criminal justice system.”

Trump, who appeared on a monitor wearing a red-striped tie and sitting in front of American flags, frowned and appeared bored during Steinglass’ remarks.

Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, responded that he disagreed with the prosecutor about the validity of the case and about Trump’s conduct.

“It’s a sad day for President Trump and his family and his friends, but it’s also … a sad day for this country,” said Blanche, who Trump has chosen to be the attorney general of the United States in the next administration.

Despite his complaints in the courtroom, Trump declared victory on social media after the hearing.

“Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic un-American witch hunt,” Trump wrote Social truth. His post said the no-penalty sentence showed the case lacked merit, although Merchan made it clear he gave an unconditional release because Trump would soon be president.

Thursday’s hearing came a day after Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, attended former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in Washington. The Trumps sat with every other living former president.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday night raised the last legal barrier to Trump’s sentence, rejecting his request to block proceedings in the case.

The decision was narrow — 5-to-4 — with Trump-nominated Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining fellow conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and three liberal justices to issue the majority decision.

The decision noted that Trump’s sentence imposes a “relatively insubstantial” burden on his presidential responsibilities, since he was expected to receive a sentence that does not involve actual punishment, and that he still has the right to appeal on claims that Merchan improperly allowed certain evidence at trial.

Trump’s lawyers have argued that he is immune from criminal prosecution, but courts have repeatedly rejected that claim regarding the hush money case because he was not yet president when the initial conduct in the case occurred.