Donald Trump officially becomes the first and only president in the history of the United States of America to have been convicted of a crime, ma he won't go to prison and he won't even have to pay a fine.
New York State Judge Juan M. Merchan, who was handling the trial over the illicit payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniel has in fact decided to formulate a sentence of “unconditional release”. This means that Trump has been recognized guilty, but will not be punished. The only consequence? His criminal record will no longer be clean. His lawyers have already announced an appeal.
Trump called the case that convicted him “a political witch hunt“. “I am innocent, this was a political witch hunt to damage my reputation,” the president-elect said in a video link. “This case has been a bad experience and a failure of the New York justice system,” he added.
Trump's Sentencing and a Recap of Previous Episodes
The tycoon was accused of having paid $130.000 to Stormy Daniel in exchange for silence about their relationship. Last May he had been judged guilty of 34 counts by a popular jury.
In the days leading up to the sentencing, Trump's lawyers have tried in every way to block the sentence. First by appealing to the New York Court of Appeals, which rejected the request for a stay, then also by calling into question the Supreme Court, of a markedly Republican nature, which however also rejected Trump's latest attempt to delay the conviction. According to the tycoon's lawyers, in fact, a conviction 10 days after his inauguration, scheduled for January 20, would have threatened national security. The New York judge who is following the case had however any type of prison sentence has already been excluded (Trump would not have ended up in prison anyway, in other words) and so the Supreme Court, with a vote of 5 to 4, ruled that the conviction would not hinder the inauguration of the president-elect.
On his social Truth, before today's ruling, Trump had commented: "I appreciate the time and effort of the Supreme Court in trying to right the great injustice done to me. For the sake and sanctity of the presidency, I will appeal this case and I am confident that justice will prevail. The pathetic and dying remnants of this witch hunt against me will not distract us," the president-elect assured.
