‘A Unique and Remarkable Set of Circumstances’: Trump Sentenced Days Away from Inauguration
Incoming president will be known as the “felon-in-chief”
Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in a New York courtroom a little more than a week before he returns to the White House.
As a result, the judge overseeing the case sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge,” acknowledging that Trump’s impending return to the presidency added a “unique and remarkable set of circumstances” with which to grapple as Judge Juan Merchan brought to a close the once-and-future president’s conviction on 34 criminal counts.
The case — involving a scheme to hide hush-money payments before the 2016 presidential election — was the only one of four separate indictments facing Trump that was tried and adjudicated ahead of the November elections.
Left untried were cases in federal and Georgia state courts related to Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 and the retention of federal government documents after he left the White House in 2021.
Merchan, however, indicated that he brought as much justice as he thought he could under the circumstances.
“In my time on the bench, I have been called upon to grapple with this weighty responsibility for countless defendants who have been found guilty after trial for an assortment offenses ranging from non-violent Class E felonies to the most heinous crimes including homicides, sex trafficking and child sexual abuse,” he said. “The task is always difficult and deserving of careful consideration, whether the sentence be an unconditional discharge or incarceration of 25 years to life.
“However, never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. Indeed, it can be viewed fairly that this has been a truly extraordinary case.”
Merchan made clear that although the vote of the American people weighed in his decision, even Trump’s election wouldn’t erase the jury verdict against him.
“However, despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict. It is clear from legal precedent, which until July 1 was scarce, that Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections,” he said. “I’m referring to protections that extend well beyond those afforded the average defendant who winds their way through the criminal justice system each day.
“No. Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. It is the office of the president that bestows those far reaching protections to the office holder,” he added. “And it was the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections, which include, among other things, the supremacy clause and presidential immunity.”
Trump’s status as a convicted felon now will remain with him, according to author and presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.
“Well, you’re going to be able to call Donald Trump a felon-in-chief, not just a commander-in-chief. We’ve never had a sitting president or ex-president be convicted of a felony, let alone 34 felony counts,” he said.
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