President-elect Donald Trump appeared virtually for his criminal sentencing in Manhattan Friday morning, in a historic first for a former or sitting president.
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JUAN MERCHAN: Therefore, at this time, I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts. Sir, I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office. Thank you.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced President-elect Donald Trump today for concealing payments to a porn star to influence the 2016 election. Trump’s sentence of unconditional discharge means he’ll have no jail time, probation or fines, but it does mean the criminal trial has left him a sentenced, convicted felon 10 days before he takes the oath of office. NPR’s Andrea Bernstein was in the courtroom and joins us now. Hi there.
ANDREA BERNSTEIN, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.
SUMMERS: Andrea, tell us what it was like in court today.
BERNSTEIN: In some ways, this was just like the trial – lots of reporters, lots of prosecutors. But on the other side of the room, it was completely different. Trump and his attorney, Todd Blanche – Trump’s nominee to be the No. 2 person in the justice department – addressed the course via video link from Mar-a-Lago. But more than that, there was no mystery. So throughout this case, which started years ago, we didn’t know would Trump be charged, tried, convicted. But today we knew the outcome because last week the judge said there would be no jail time.
SUMMERS: I mean, this was an ordinary moment in a trial but an extraordinary moment for the country. What did we hear from Trump? How’d he respond?
BERNSTEIN: So I’ve been to a lot of white-collar sentencing, and this was nothing like any of them. Usually, the defendant’s lawyers present testimonials of their client’s good character, argue this was an aberration and beg for leniency. Typically, defendants say they’re sorry. Instead, Trump was defiant. He attacked the legal process, and he attacked the prosecutors.
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DONALD TRUMP: The fact is that I’m totally innocent. I did nothing wrong.
BERNSTEIN: Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, said he’d be appealing.
SUMMERS: What did you hear from the prosecutors? I mean, did they just accept all of this?
BERNSTEIN: Basically, yeah, they accepted the sentence, but they did take the opportunity to issue a warning. Prosecutor Josh Steinglass said, quote, “instead of preserving, protecting and defending our constitutionally established system of criminal justice, the defendant, once and future president of the United States, has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy.”
SUMMERS: And what did we learn, if anything, about Judge Merchan’s reasoning behind the sentence of unconditional discharge?
BERNSTEIN: Of all the judges who presided over Trump-related trials in New York, Merchan was the most deliberative. You could see him taking into account all sides, and his decision today was like that. In his order last week, Merchan was tough on Trump and his lawyers. He said this was a serious crime Trump was convicted of, that it has what lawyers call gravamen, precisely because, quote, “it was the premeditated and continuous deception by the leader of the free world that is the gravamen of this offense.” But today Merchan said he had no choice, that although Trump was, quote, “an ordinary defendant,” the office he is going to inhabit is not.
SUMMERS: So was he saying that a president is above the law?
BERNSTEIN: Not exactly, but Judge Merchan did say this.
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MERCHAN: And it was a citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections, which include, among other things, the Supremacy Clause and presidential immunity.
BERNSTEIN: The trial ended before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision granting Trump broad immunity in the January 6 case, and Merchan has consistently said since that high court opinion had no bearing on this case. But today Merchan seemed to gesture that once elected, a president does have special protections. Even so, Trump becomes the first U.S. president…
SUMMERS: All right.
BERNSTEIN: …To enter office a convicted felon.
SUMMERS: That’s right – a convicted felon. NPR’s Andrea Bernstein. Thank you.
BERNSTEIN: Thank you.
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