Donald Trump decried his hush money trial as a “witch hunt” during his sentencing hearing Friday, but he saved his biggest fireworks for a post-hearing rant on Truth Social.
“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,” he wrote in part.
Trump’s sentence of unconditional discharge means he will face no prison time, fines, or probation. However, he will carry the distinction of being the first president in U.S. history to be a felon when he’s sworn in on Jan. 20.
As a felon, Trump can no longer possess a firearm in his adopted state of Florida, and can never sit on a jury—though he was not likely to.
Trump attended Friday’s hearing virtually from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, but he was far from the silent participant who attended hearings in New York.
He said “this has been a very terrible experience” and that his conviction was a “tremendous setback” for the New York court system.
He added that the trial was a “political witch hunt,” brought forward to damage his reputation and electoral chances ahead of the 2024 election. He added that he was “totally innocent.”
“I was treated very, very unfairly, and I thank you very much,” Trump said, closing his comments.
Trump was less rational in a Truth Social post shortly after the hearing.
“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,” he wrote. “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.”
A report from The New York Times said Trump had a “slight scowl” as he awaited the start of proceedings around 9:30 a.m. Friday. Photos emerged showing him wearing a striped red tie, seated in front of two U.S. flags.
Trump shook his head when the court reiterated his conviction, the paper added.
“Trump is now in a familiar pose, his arms crossed in defiance,” wrote the so-called Trump whisperer, Maggie Haberman.
Justin Juan Merchan told Trump “Godspeed” after announcing his sentence.
The camera displaying Trump was “abruptly turned off” after Merchan finished, the Times reported, and the hearing was complete.
The sentencing renewed calls from the MAGA world for retribution against Merchan and others who prosecuted the hush-money case.
“The people who went after Trump should be investigated and charged,” said Charlie Kirk of Turing PointUSA. “All of them. Justice is coming.”
While Trump has objected to his prosecution of 34 counts, the trial—which played out in Manhattan this spring—served as an audition of sorts for his legal team.
Emil Bove, one of Trump’s attorneys present Friday, is his choice to be the principal deputy associate attorney general. The case’s head attorney, Todd Blanche, is his pick for deputy attorney general.
Trump was found guilty on May 31 of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels—a porn star who claims to have had an affair with him in 2006 in the early years of his marriage to Melania.
Friday’s sentence is likely not the end to this years-long saga. Trump and his attorneys have indicated they will appeal the conviction.
“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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The case’s lead prosecutor, Joshua Steinglass, grilled Trump ahead of his sentence being revealed.
“This defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm’s way,” he said.
