Attorney Todd Blanche and President-elect Donald Trump, seen on a television screen, appear virtually for sentencing for Trump's hush money conviction in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 in New York. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
NEW YORK (AFP): A judge sentenced Donald Trump to an unconditional discharge Friday (Jan 10) for covering up hush money payments to a porn star despite the US president-elect's last-ditch efforts to avoid becoming the first felon in the White House.
"This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgement of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land, is an unconditional discharge"," said New York judge Juan Merchan delivering the sentence during a court session that Trump attended virtually.
