President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his , but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.

The punishment-free judgement marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant. The case was the only one of four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

Unlike his trial last year, when Trump brought allies to the courthouse and addressed waiting reporters outside the courthouse, the former president did not appear in person Friday, instead making a brief virtual appearance from his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump, wearing a dark suit and seated next to one of his lawyers with an American flag in the background, appeared on a video screen as he again insisted he did not commit a crime.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didnB次元官网网址檛 work,B次元官网网址� Trump said.

Trump called the case B次元官网网址渁 weaponization of governmentB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渁n embarrassment to New York.B次元官网网址�

TrumpB次元官网网址檚 sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that , put on and convicted by a jury on every count. Yet, the legal detour B次元官网网址� and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations B次元官网网址� didnB次元官网网址檛 hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.

Merchan said that like when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president B次元官网网址渋s a factor that overrides all others.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淒espite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict,B次元官网网址� Merchan said.

Trump, briefly addressing the court by video, said his criminal trial and conviction have B次元官网网址渂een a very terrible experienceB次元官网网址� and insisted he committed no crime.

Before FridayB次元官网网址檚 hearing, Merchan had , called an unconditional discharge, which meant no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed.

Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided TrumpB次元官网网址檚 attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.

B次元官网网址淭he once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,B次元官网网址� prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Rather than show remorse, Trump has B次元官网网址渂red disdainB次元官网网址� for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, B次元官网网址渉as caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harmB次元官网网址檚 way.B次元官网网址�

As he appeared from his Mar-a-Lago home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom heB次元官网网址檚 tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.

B次元官网网址淭he American voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this was the kind of case that shouldB次元官网网址檝e been brought. And they decided,B次元官网网址� Blanche said. B次元官网网址淎nd thatB次元官网网址檚 why in 10 days President Trump is going to assume the office of the president of the United States.B次元官网网址�

Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, B次元官网网址淭rump is guilty.B次元官网网址� The other held one that said, B次元官网网址淪top partisan conspiracyB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淪top political witch hunt.B次元官网网址�

The hush money case to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in TrumpB次元官网网址檚 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.

B次元官网网址淚 never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,B次元官网网址� the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.

BraggB次元官网网址檚 office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed B次元官网网址渟erious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New YorkB次元官网网址檚 financial marketplace.B次元官网网址�

While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with TrumpB次元官网网址檚 political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off B次元官网网址� at the time, Michael Cohen B次元官网网址� as part of to keep voters from hearing about TrumpB次元官网网址檚 alleged extramarital escapades.

Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said CohenB次元官网网址檚 reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says thatB次元官网网址檚 simply what they were.

B次元官网网址淭here was nothing else it could have been called,B次元官网网址� he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding, B次元官网网址淚 was hiding nothing.B次元官网网址�

TrumpB次元官网网址檚 lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed.

The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity.

Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.

Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he , citing a need for B次元官网网址渇inality.B次元官网网址� He wrote that he strove to balance TrumpB次元官网网址檚 need to govern, the Supreme CourtB次元官网网址檚 immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the publicB次元官网网址檚 expectation that B次元官网网址渘o one is above the law.B次元官网网址�

TrumpB次元官网网址檚 lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.

Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.

After TrumpB次元官网网址檚 election, special counsel Jack Smith over TrumpB次元官网网址檚 handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level is locked in uncertainty after from it.

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Follow the APB次元官网网址檚 coverage of President-elect Donald Trump at .

Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz And Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press