President-elect Donald Trump was formally sentenced Friday in his hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment. The outcome cements Trump’s conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine, Associated Press (AP).
According to the report by AP, Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Donald Trump to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Donald Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.
Trump said his criminal trial and conviction has “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime.
The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business’ records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier.