The elected president of the United States, donald trumphas been sentenced this Friday by a New York court to an “unconditional release“, a type of sentence that does not involve a fine, jail or probation, for the bribery case of former porn actress Stephanie Clifford, known as ‘Stormy Daniels‘.
trump He was convicted in April on a total of 34 chargeswhen he was not even confirmed as an official candidate for the White House. The judge held him responsible for falsifying documents to hide a payment of $130,000 to ‘Stormy Daniels’, whom he paid not to talk about an alleged extramarital relationship.
The president-elect, who has spent months denouncing the case as political persecution, has not been present in the New York court and has listened to the sentence by videoconference from his residence in Mar-a-Lago (Florida).
In his final statement before hearing the sentence, Trump declared that this entire case “has represented a step back for New York and its judicial system” and insisted that what happened “was a political witch hunt”, designed to damage his “reputation”.
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected Trump’s own emergency request to paralyze the case. Therefore, Judge Juan Merchan of Manhattan has issued the verdict: “an unconditional exemption”which means that the sentence issued by the popular jury is maintained, but that the accused will be released “no jail time, no fine, no probation supervision”. Last week the judge already warned that the sentence would not imply prison sentences, but it is a hard blow for him because on January 19 he will become the first criminal president.
Of the four criminal charges of which he was accused, Only this one has reached the end. Before hearing the sentence, Trump has reaffirmed that he is “completely innocent” and his lawyer has indicated that “the majority of Americans” believe that he should not have been prosecuted.
He cannot pardon himself
In May he was convicted by a popular jury for 34 crimes of document falsification and violation of state laws of campaign finance for payments made to porn actress Stormy Daniels. The payments were made by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, and recorded as his company’s legal expenses.
Your lawyers They tried to avoid the sentence and his defense argued that once he has been elected president-elect, he should be free from prosecution because it would involve “serious injustices and damage to the institution of the presidency.”
As It is a state case, when Trump gets to the White House he will not be able to pardon himself because the presidential pardon authority only applies to federal cases. But he can begin his formal appeal, something that has already advanced because “frankly it is a shame.”