Donald Trump today became the first felon in the White House after a US court upheld his conviction in a hush money case. He has been sentenced to an ‘unconditional discharge’ for covering up unaccounted payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
This means that the President-elect has been found guilty of his charges, but will not face any jail time or penalty because he has been elected President of the United States and will take oath to the country’s highest office on January 20 – a post that brings with itself an impunity of being above the law while in office and beyond.
And so, though the 34 counts of Donald Trump falsifying business records on which he was convicted in May 2024 carried potential jail time, the judge could do little about it, ending up having to spare the President-elect. Should he not have been the president, Donald Trump would have been jailed for a term of four years. Instead he will now return to the White House as President for another four.
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Donald Trump did not even attend the session of court in person, choosing to do so virtually, knowing well that he would not be sent to jail.
Stormy Daniels had testified in vivid detail about her alleged encounter with Trump in a hotel in Navada.
“This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgement of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land, is an unconditional discharge,” said New York judge Juan Merchan delivering the sentence.
He judge went on to say that “Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances.” With the constitution protecting the highest office in the United States, there was no other option for the judge than to give an “unconditional discharge” to the former president. Any other judgement risked encroaching the Presidential immunity accorded to the country’s highest post.
Even before the sentencing, to avoid the dubious distinction of being the first felon ever in the White House, Donald Trump used all his power and resources in making a last-ditch effort to skirt past it.
Hours before the sentencing, Donald Trump remarked that he believes this entire legal proceeding was actually a “setback for the New York court system”. “It was done to damage my reputation, just so that I may lose the election,” he claimed, adding that it has been a “terrible experience” for him.
During the course of the proceedings however, Donald Trump had to sit and see witness after witness testify against him – of how he had fraudulently covered up illicit payments to porn star Stormy Daniels in an effort to stop her disclosing their tryst ahead of the 2016 presidential election, which he ultimately won.
Donald Trump had tried his best to stop the criminal proceedings against him but had faced a huge setback when the US Supreme Court had ruled that his sentencing could proceed.
Today’s sentencing comes just ten days before Donald Trump returns to the White House for a second term as President of the US.
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