President-elect Donald Trump ranted about his innocence and having a ‘very terrible experience’ during his hush-money trial moments before a judge sentenced him to no jail time or fines in the historic case.
New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to unconditional discharge on Friday after a jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in May. This sentence means Trump will not face any jail time or fines.
“Virtually everyone that I know of … not one, these people are not exactly friends of mine, to put it mildly … have all said it’s a case that should never be brought,” Trump told the court before listing off authors and legal analysts he says support his view.
President-elect Donald Trump maintained he did nothing wrong in a rant shortly before Judge Juan Merchan announced his sentence in the hush-money case (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Throughout his speech, the president-elect maintained his innocence: “I’m totally innocent, I did nothing wrong … The business records were extremely accurate.”
“It has been a political witch hunt, it was done to damage my reputation,” he added.
“I would just like to explain that I was treated very, very unfairly. Thank you very much.”
A Trump flag sits outside Manhattan Criminal Court, where the president-elect was sentenced on Friday in his hush-money case. Trump will face no jail time or fines related to his felony convictions (Getty Images)
Friday’s hearing came after the Supreme Court said it would not stop Trump’s sentencing in his criminal hush money trial. Earlier this week, prosecutors argued the nation’s highest court should intervene “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
In her one-page order on Thursday night, hours before Trump’s sentence, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Trump’s arguments can be handled through the ordinary course of appeal.
The “burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of ‘unconditional discharge’ after a brief virtual hearing,” she wrote.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh would have granted Trump’s application.