Trump avoids jail in hush money sentence but is set to be first felon president
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New York Justice Juan Merchan said “the only lawful sentence” remaining for Trump’s crimes is that of an unconditional discharge. Donald Trump will return to the White House as the first-ever criminally convicted president after his sentencing in a Manhattan courtroom, where the judge presiding over his criminal hush money trial declined to send him to jail but preserved the jury’s historic verdict against the president-elect.
![[Demonstrators protest outside Manhattan criminal court before the start of the sentencing in Trump’s hush money case on January 10]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/10/14/ce48ce5c4afe4cedb49b314fa791723d.jpg)
New York Justice Juan Merchan told the former president on January 10 that “the only lawful sentence” remaining for his crimes is that of an unconditional discharge. “I wish you godspeed as you serve a second term in office,” he said before leaving the court.
The 30-minute hearing marked a delayed conclusion to the first-ever successful criminal prosecution of a former president, and the only criminal case against Trump to reach a trial. Trump was forced to attend every day of the proceedings, where he sat with his arms folded, or leaning against the table in front of him, as he stared blankly, shut his eyes, or craned his neck to look at the jury and the witnesses testifying in front of him.
But on January 10, the courthouse once again packed with reporters and lawyers, Trump was nowhere to be seen. Roughly 12 hours before the hearing, the Supreme Court narrowly declined his demand to pause the proceedings, arguing that his conviction and sentence in the long-running criminal case unconstitutionally interfere with his upcoming presidency.
