Trump convicted but avoids jail time in historic NY case

A New York court convicted President-elect Donald Trump on Friday of 34 crimes related to concealing a payment intended to silence Stormy Daniels. Despite the conviction, the court ordered his unconditional release.

In practice, this means that the court recognized Trump as a criminal but did not impose any additional punishment on him.

The verdict issued on Friday by Judge Juan Merchan marks the conclusion of the first criminal case in history against a former U.S. president.

"President-elect Donald Trump has been criminally sentenced. He will avoid jail time, but the proceeding formalizes his status as a felon and makes him the first to carry that distinction into the White House," comments the NY Times.

Donald Trump was thus formally convicted for 34 instances of falsifying business documentation. The case involves concealing a payment meant to silence Stormy Daniels.

When announcing the verdict, Judge Juan Merchan acknowledged that Friday's decision was one of the most challenging any judge could face and stated that the ruling he issued is mandated by "extraordinary" legal protection of the office of the president.

However, he added that the legal protections of the presidency "do not reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way," adding that "one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict."

Trump was found guilty back in May last year, but the announcement of the sentence was delayed due to his requests to postpone the trial and complaints about the unconstitutionality of the process.

"It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work," said the president-elect after the verdict was announced.

According to the Insider Paper portal, Trump called the criminal proceedings against him "a disgrace to the system".