Trump's Trials - Trump Is Sentenced In Hush Money Case

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

President-elect Donald Trump received on an unconditional discharge for his criminal conviction in New York on Friday, meaning he will not face fines, prison, or any other penalties.The former and future president appeared virtually in a Manhattan courtroom on Friday for his sentencing on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment to an adult film star.Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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And I'm A. Martinez. President-elect Trump was sentenced this morning days days before taking office, over his New York hush money case. The judge imposed no penalty as expected, no jail time, and Trump attended the hearing virtually. The Supreme Court declined, though, to block Trump's sentencing. He will come away with a criminal record, though he said he plans to appeal. NPR political reporter Jimena Bustillo has been covering this trial.

Good morning. Good morning. Work out the background for us. What's at stake here? Well, this was a big part of the early 2024 presidential election. Trump brought the campaign trail to New York using the trial as a way to speak to the press, hold events, and talk about his political platform. But ultimately, even with a criminal conviction, voters elected him into the White House. Now, Trump continues to call the trial a political witch hunt. There was a lot of speculation over how a trial, a conviction, and even a sentencing could affect Trump's ability to win. Yet, on election night, Trump decidedly won it in the court of public opinion,

and will be the first convicted felon to be sworn into the Oval Office later this month. Legal experts say that this sentencing brings a much needed finality to the trial and formally convicts him. I did have a look at the court's finding on this. It's not an extended ruling, but they put a few words out. What did they say? Well, last night, five justices of the Supreme Court, a court majority, agreed to allow the sentencing to proceed. In their decision, the court said that any concerns Trump had about the case should be first litigated through the lower courts. The justices also said that the sentencing will inflict a relatively light burden on

him since New York Judge Juan Marchand intends to impose that sentence of unconditional discharge. Still, key to note that four conservative justices would have sided with Trump, meaning that he was just one justice away from not having to be sentenced today. Yeah, this is really, really interesting. They knew in advance that the president-elect wasn't going to be punished or wasn't going to even have to travel to Manhattan. And even so, there were four justices who were willing to side with Trump and delay the sentencing in whatever sense it would be inconvenient to the president-elect.

But still it goes forward and reminds people what this case was about. What was it that Trump was convicted of? At the center of the prosecution's case were 34 invoices, checks, and ledgers that outlined a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors argued that Trump paid off Daniels

when he was running in the 2016 presidential election in order to keep her quiet about an alleged affair. The jurors ultimately convicted Trump of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. And how has Trump challenged that case? Trump has sought to delay and throw out the whole case, especially after the Supreme Court ruled that presidents have broad immunity for official acts. Mershon, the New York judge that I mentioned, agreed to postpone the sentence several times. At one point, he agreed to push it until after the 2024 presidential election to avoid any

perception of political bias. Mershon also delayed to allow Trump to make the case that he had immunity because of some evidence in the trial that overlapped with his time as president. But Mershon said that sentencing should proceed. And where does the case go now? Well, Trump has tapped in several of his personal lawyers on the case to join him in this next administration. That includes John Sauer,

who appealed this case to the Supreme Court. And if confirmed by the Senate, will be representing the federal government at the Supreme Court level as Solicitor General. Trump has vowed to appeal the case but moving forward some ethical questions remain over his lawyers ability to do so while serving in the executive branch. This is what the Supreme Court said if he has concerns about the case pursue them in an ordinary appeal they said. NPR Samantha Bastille thanks so much. Thank you.

NPR some adiposteo. Thanks so much. Thank you And before we wrap up a thank you to our NPR plus supporters who hear each show without Sponsored messages and of course who help protect independent journalism if you are not a supporter yet You can visit plus dot NPR org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows Like bonus episodes exclusive merchandise and more again podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detro. Thanks for listening to Trump's Terms from NPR.