Trump gets unconditional discharge for business fraud conviction

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday received a sentence of no fine, probation, or jail time after a Manhattan jury convicted him on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s chosen sentence of an unconditional discharge ends the criminal proceedings against Trump.  New York state law allows judges to impose an unconditional discharge in situations when they believe imposing any condition as part of a sentence would not serve any appropriate purpose. 

So what happened at the hearing? Trump appeared at the sentencing virtually on Friday morning. Merchan, who was the trial judge for the case, also oversaw the sentencing. When he first scheduled the sentencing hearing for Friday, Merchan indicated that he would not incarcerate Trump. Prosecutors also were not pushing for Trump to serve jail time, Merchan added.

Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong and described the prosecution against him as being politically motivated. He has also asked for a dismissal of the indictment and the jury verdict against him. He also had fought to have his sentencing hearing delayed—even going so far as to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to delay it. The high court denied his request.