Trump Responds After Learning His Sentence in New York

President-Elect Donald Trump issued a fiery response following his sentencing in New York on Friday morning in the highly publicized “hush money” case.

Judge Juan Merchan handed Trump an “unconditional discharge,” a decision that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office did not oppose.

In accordance with New York state law, an unconditional discharge is a penalty imposed “without imprisonment, fine, or probation supervision.” The law allows such a sentence when the judge believes “no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant’s release.”

Trump quickly reacted to the sentencing through a statement on his Truth Social platform.

“The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt. After spending tens of millions of dollars, wasting over 6 years of obsessive work that should have been spent on protecting New Yorkers from violent, rampant crime that is destroying the City and State, coordinating with the Biden/Harris Department of Injustice in lawless Weaponization, and bringing completely baseless, illegal, and fake charges against your 45th and 47th President, ME, I was given an UNCONDITIONAL DISCHARGE,” Trump began.

“That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED. The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History. As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference. Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump continued.

During the hearing, Judge Merchan directed a message of encouragement to Trump.

“Sir, I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office,” Merchan remarked in his closing statement.

Trump, appearing virtually from Mar-a-Lago, also addressed the court and did not mince words.

“This has been a very terrible experience and a setback for the New York court system,” Trump declared.

Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, shared his perspective, calling it a “sad day” for the nation.

“It’s a very sad day. It’s a sad day for President Trump, for his family and friends, but also in counsel’s view, a sad day for this country. A lot of what the government just said presupposes that this case is legally appropriate,” Blanche remarked.

He added that Trump’s legal team plans to challenge the outcome.

“A majority of the American people also agree that this case should not have been brought,” Blanche noted.

“I very, very much disagree with much of what the government just said about this case, about the legitimacy of what happened in this courtroom during the trial, and about President Trump’s conduct fighting this case,” Blanche continued.

Trump reaffirmed his innocence and criticized the process, saying, “It’s been a political witch hunt; it was done to damage my reputation.”

Speaking about his 2024 election victory, Trump claimed he won the popular vote by “millions and millions of votes” and secured all seven swing states.

“They’ve been watching your trial, so they understood it,” Trump said of the voters.

“The fact is, I’m totally innocent. I did nothing wrong,” he asserted.