President-elect Donald Trump, at 10:07 AM ET on Friday, was sentenced by Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan after a jury of his peers found him guilty on 34 criminal felony counts of business fraud for what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg described as “falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election.”

He received no punishment. In 10 days, Donald Trump will become the first person to enter the White House as President of the United States as a convicted felon, barring any extraordinary efforts.

Trump’s “conviction, a Class E felony offense, is eligible for a penalty of up to four years in prison and several thousands of dollars in fines per count,” Politico reports. But Judge Merchan “instead issued a so-called ‘unconditional discharge,’ a decision that will spare the incoming president any jail time, fines or probation.”

Merchan told Trump, “This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgement of conviction, without encroaching on the highest office of the land is unconditional discharge,” The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports.

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Trump said Thursday night he will appeal the conviction.

The President-elect was allowed to appear virtually and was accompanied by his attorney, Todd Blanche. Trump has indicated he will nominate Blanche to be the United States Deputy Attorney General.

an image from Trump’s sentencing pic.twitter.com/ds2yP7hoKQ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 10, 2025

A billionaire real estate magnate who entered politics with no experience in 2015 by showcasing his wealth and attacking Mexican immigrants, Trump found his 2016 presidential campaign in jeopardy after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released. It showed a grown man making lewd comments about women, including what many perceived as him joking about, and appearing to brag and admit to, sexual assault. Originally recorded in 2005, it was released just one month before the 2016 election to widespread and bipartisan condemnation. Denying his comments were admitting to sexual assault, Trump called it “locker room talk.”

Trump was found to have paid “hush money” to adult film actress Stormy Daniels—with whom he reportedly had a sexual encounter—in what prosecutors said was an effort to protect his presidential campaign.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump in March of 2023. He was arraigned days later. The jury trial was held in April of 2024. Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts.

Trump had made desperate attempts to delay sentencing, which originally had been scheduled for July 11, and had already been postponed twice. But Thursday night, after three New York courts refused his requests, the U.S. Supreme Court also refused to stay Friday’s sentencing.

“Over the past week, Trump’s lawyers filed hundreds of pages of high-pitched arguments in four courts, at every level of the NY judiciary and SCOTUS, in a failed bid to stop these proceedings,” reported Just Security’s Adam Klasfeld.

During Friday’s sentencing, New York prosecutor Joshua Steinglass berated Trump and his actions.

“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 told Judge Merchan, according to Courthouse News reporter Erik Uebelacker.

Steinglass added that Trump “engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy. Far from expressing any kind of remorse for his criminal conduct, the defendant has purposely bred disdain … for the rule of law,” Uebelacker also reported.

Klasfeld reported that Steinglass also told the court: “Today’s sentence ‘cements’ Trump’s ‘status as a convicted felon’ and ‘gives full respect to the jury’s verdict.'”

“After confirming that prosecutors recommend a sentence of unconditional discharge,” Klasfeld added, “Assistant DA Joshua Steinglass tears into [Trump] and his ‘threats’ to ‘retaliate against prosecutors.'”

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Politico’s Kyle Cheney observed, “The reality of Trump’s long-delayed sentence means he will have to fight the appeal while in office, a dynamic his lawyers argued would be a distraction on the presidency. But an appeal is also his only chance to erase the ‘felon’ label, and he seems eager to begin that process.”

“NOW you can call him a convicted felon,” remarked NBC News Justice and Intelligence Correspondent Ken Dilanian.

Some critics, including legal experts, are expressing disappointment and frustration.

“Donald Trump sentenced to a complete and total victory over the justice system,” civil rights lawyer Matthew Segal, the co-director of the ACLU’s State Supreme Court Initiative, wrote from his personal social media account.

“Trump, escaping all punishment for dozens of felonies, says he’s been treated ‘very unfairly,'” observed Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall.

“45, 47, Felon,” remarked former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade, an MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst.

SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah, a lawyer, lamented the outcome: “No where can you find a person convicted of 34 felonies who is sentenced to no penalties. Period,” he wrote.

“Trump should not be heading to the White House. He should be reporting to prison,” he added.

Obeidallah also predicted that “Trump will 100% commit more crimes in the next few years. How do I know that? Simple, because Trump knows he will never be held accountable.”

Former TIME magazine managing editor Richard Stengel, who served as an Under Secretary of State for President Barack Obama, commented: “I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer to live in a country where no person—not a president-elect, not a president—is above the law.”

MSNBC/NBC News legal correspondent Lisa Rubin notes that “now that the sentencing is over, the gloves could come off. Why? Merchan has no more leverage over Trump. The sentencing is over, and so, according to a June 2024 order, is the gag order Trump constantly complains about and frequently distorts. That order expressly expires with ‘the imposition of sentence.'”

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Image via Reuters

U.S. Senator John Fetterman is facing criticism after accepting an invitation from Donald Trump to meet at the President-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort and residence. Just hours after the Democratic freshman senator from Pennsylvania confirmed his decision, his top communications aide reportedly resigned.

Senator Fetterman increasingly appears to be taking controversial positions that are at odds with many elected and rank-and-file Democrats, such as suggesting Trump’s call for the U.S. to take over Greenland is a “responsible conversation.”

“If anyone thinks that’s bonkers, it’s like, well, remember the Louisiana Purchase?” Fetterman said, The New Republic reported.

He defended his decision to travel to Mar-a-Lago in a statement Thursday.

“I’ve been clear that no one is my gatekeeper. I will meet with and have a conversation with anyone if it helps me deliver for Pennsylvania and the nation,” Fetterman said, according to NBC News’ Frank Thorp V. “President Trump invited me to meet, and I accepted. I’m the Senator for all Pennsylvanians— not just Democrats in Pennsylvania.”

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“I think that one, he’s the president, or he will be officially,” Fetterman also said, according to CBS News. “And I think it’s pretty reasonable that if the president would like to have a conversation — or invite someone to have a conversation — to have it.”

“I’m not the person that’s going to set what [the conversation is] going to be,” Fetterman also told reporters (video below).

I asked Sen. Fetterman if he had a specific topic to talk with Trump at his meeting in Mar-A-Lago, he said “I’m not the person that’s going to set…what it’s going to be, but just like I’ve met with all of the nominees, it’s about having a conversation with people that we are… pic.twitter.com/gAErxcdhtM

— Cristina Corujo (@cristina_corujo) January 9, 2025

And while Senator Fetterman says he does not know what he and the President-elect will discuss, as CBS News noted, Trump “hopes Fetterman will support some of his nominees, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, a source said.”

During his 2022 Senate campaign, Fetterman was forced to deny he used illegal drugs, after Trump baselessly accused him of doing so.

“Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete decriminalization of illegal drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crystal meth, and ultra lethal fentanyl,” Trump said, according to People magazine. “By the way, he takes them himself.”

Fetterman’s support for Republicans’ anti-immigrant legislation, the Laken Riley Act—a bill that requires the federal government to detain undocumented immigrants if they have been arrested for crimes such as theft—has also been controversial.

The Pennsylvania lawmaker was the first Democrat to co-sponsor the bill in the Senate, angering immigrants’ rights activists, some of whom are calling it, “an attack on constitutional protections and a green light to Trump’s mass deportation agenda.”

U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego, another freshman Democrat, also co-sponsored the bill.

After passing the House, the bill stalled in the Senate, but Thursday afternoon, the bill appeared headed for passage. Less than ten Democrats voted against allowing the bill to proceed.

“Fetterman and Gallego and a few others are undercutting the possibility of mounting a more united front that could fix its worst elements,” The New Republic’s Greg Sargent wrote.

Some critics are saying Fetterman appears likely to switch parties, after his apparent embrace of Trump.

“Fetterman is likely to switch parties. Let’s face it. Full horseshoe,” claimed Tom Watson, who writes “The Liberal” at Substack. “Too many people are forgetting that the Democratic Party is basically a liberal party. There’s no possible room for a pro-Trump Democrat to hold major office. If Fetterman thinks being a MAGA Dem is possible, he’ll find out it’s not,” he added.

Meanwhile, Politico reports, Carrie Adams, Fetterman’s communications director, “has left his office, a person close to the senator said.” She had joined Fetterman’s office in April, “after he lost three top staffers in a matter of months, then drew criticism last year after she was quoted openly disagreeing with her boss’ stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict in an August interview with the Free Press.”

“Fetterman’s shifting political persona in Congress has shocked many who worked for him during his 2022 campaign. While he eschewed the ‘progressive’ label, he had endorsed Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run and advocated for some left-wing policies in his campaign,” Politico adds. “In recent weeks alone, he’s made a habit of taking time to speak to President Donald Trump’s nominees and of reaching across the aisle to work with Republicans on legislation.”

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The New Republic also noted the shift in Fetterman’s politics.

“Fetterman’s reaction to Trump’s idea [to take over Greenland] seems to be part of a pattern by the Pennsylvania senator, who has boasted about shifting away from progressive politics for more than a year. Pennsylvania’s only Democratic senator even bragged that brain damage resulting from his near-fatal stroke has allowed him to ‘say the things that I have to really believe in and not be afraid of if there’s any kind of blowback.’”

In response to Fetterman’s remarks on Greenland, investigative journalist Dave Troy noted on Wednesday: “As I’ve been saying, expect Fetterman to be a cheerleader for all things Musk, Putin, and Trump 2.0 henceforth. And no, it’s probably not the brain injury.”

Several critics and political observers blasted Fetterman.

“Fetterman is becoming the new Manchin,” wrote activist George Takei.

“Fetterman isn’t up for reelection till 2028 and already very busy reinventing himself as MAGA friendly,” noted HuffPost senior politics reporter Igor Bobic.

Back in December, Fetterman stood for a photo with Trump UN Ambassador nominee Elise Stefanik.

Trump’s nominees continue to meet with Senators. pic.twitter.com/SKVuwoTcIk

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 11, 2024

That same month he praised Trump’s political acumen while rejecting allegations of fascism for the President-elect.

Fetterman says Trump has "political talent that's undeniable" and adds, "I never believed that it was about fascism … that's not a word that regular people use." pic.twitter.com/jhSKLaC2eN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 22, 2024

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons

Justice Samuel Alito accepting a telephone call from Donald Trump, hours before the President-elect would file a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to delay sentencing in his criminal business fraud case, was an “unmistakable breach” of ethics and judgment, and warrants recusal from the case, a longtime judicial ethics and policy expert says.

Alito told ABC News the two did not discuss the case, and reportedly said Trump called for a job reference regarding a former clerk of Alito’s.

“It’s obviously an unmistakable breach of protocol,” Gabe Roth, founder and executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization Fix the Court, told NPR‘s Michel Martin Thursday morning. Alito has “got to know better,” and “should have not taken the call, and known that this is inappropriate.”

“You have an individual in the President-elect who is petitioning the Supreme Court related to his sentencing in the hush money case, a Supreme Court justice, who frankly should know better,” he explained. “This conversation should not have taken place.”

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Roth said “it doesn’t make sense,” and that the former clerk, whom he named as Will Levi, “has plenty of other credentials.”

“He worked for [Republican U.S. Senator] Mike Lee, he could have Mike Lee call.”

“He’s been a partner in the law. His dad’s a former federal judge, his grandfather was the Attorney General.”

Roth said that “this episode shows the justices don’t really care about the ethics because they know that no one’s going to stop them from doing whatever it is that they want to do.”

And while he doesn’t see that any laws were broken, Roth said, “there are certain protocols that if you are a Supreme Court justice, you really don’t intermingle with the executive branch or the incoming executive branch,” and, “especially at a time when President Trump we know is going to have all these executive orders coming down the pike whose fate will be decided by the justices, this to me just seems like an opportunity for him to have a an audience before one of the nine people determining his administration’s fate in so many of these issues.”

Calling the Trump “hush money” case “fairly significant,” Roth asked if the Supreme Court justices are “going to stand for the rule of law and stand behind what the New York jury” decided.

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Alito’s breach “potentially could violate a rule. There is a federal law that applies to the Supreme Court justices that says, a justice shall recuse himself from a case when his impartiality might reasonably be questioned. People are reasonably questioning Alito’s impartiality given this call with Trump, so that would mean he would be required to recuse from any Trump related cases.”

But, Roth acknowledges, “there is no way to enforce that” because it’s “all self enforcing and self policing.”

“Usually the justices are better at at hiding their ethnics issues, but I guess, you know, now that the Supreme Court green lit near absolute immunity for the president, and Congress has refused to pass any sort of enforceable ethics for the justices, it looks like they’re not even trying to hide it.”

Listen to Roth’s remarks via NPR below or at this link.

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