President-elect Donald Trump was furious after being sentenced in his Manhattan hush money case and he gave Judge Juan Merchan an earful.
In an audio released by the court of the sentencing, the president-elect said the entire trial was a “great embarrassment.”
“This has been a very terrible experience,” the president-elect, who attended the sentencing virtually via video said. “I think it’s been a tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system.”
“This is a case that Alvin Bragg did not want to bring. He thought it was, from what I read and from what I hear, inappropriately handled before he got there. And a gentleman from a law firm came in and acted as a district attorney,” he said. “And that gentleman, from what I heard, was a criminal or almost criminal in what he did. It was very inappropriate. It was somebody involved with my political opponent.”
“I think it’s an embarrassment to New York and New York has a lot of problems, but this is a great embarrassment,” Trump said.
“It’s been a political witch hunt,” he said. “It was done to damage my reputation so that I’d lose the election. And obviously, that didn’t work. And the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom. They got to see this firsthand. And then they voted, and I won.”
Assistant District Attorney Josh Steinglass said that the government had “overwhelming evidence to support the jury’s verdict” and said the president-elect “has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm’s way” with what he said about the trial.
“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 from before it was indicted, while it was indicted, to the jury’s verdict, and even to this day,” Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche responded.
Full audio of Trump speaking out against the injustice system and weaponization of government.
He calls the hoax trial an “embarrassment to New York.”
Trump has been an inspiration to all wrongly prosecuted Americans.
That helped him win the election.pic.twitter.com/QHJdWuoRGM
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 10, 2025
Judge Juan Merchan has sentenced Trump to an “unconditional discharge,” which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office did not oppose.
Under New York state law, it’s a sentence imposed “without imprisonment, fine, or probation supervision.”
According to the law, such a sentence can be appropriate when the judge “is of the opinion that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant’s release.”
It is essentially a way to resolve the hush money case without Judge Merchan having to jail Trump or impose any penalties that could hinder his potential return to the White House.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Merchan issued words of encouragement to Trump.
“Sir, I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office,” Merchan said in his final statement to Trump.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the judge in court that the DA’s office is recommending a sentence of “unconditional discharge.”
The DA’s office wanted a sentence of unconditional discharge so they could preserve Trump’s status as a convicted felon while he pursues his appeals.
After Steinglass finished speaking, Trump spoke and did not pull any punches.
“This has been a very terrible experience and a setback for the New York court system,” Trump said, appearing virtually from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche says it’s a “sad day” for the US.
“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 said, adding that Trump intends to appeal the verdict.
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