No punishment for Donald Trump for the Stormy Daniels case. This was decided by Judge Juan M. Merchan of the state of New York, despite the guilty verdict issued last May, which declared the president-elect guilty of 34 charges.
The case revolved around Trump’s accusation falsified accounting documents from the 2016 election campaign to conceal a payment (130 thousand dollars) intended for buy Stormy Daniels’ silence regarding an alleged sexual relationship occurred years earlier. According to the indictment, those funds were recorded as legal fees, a fraudulent classification that was intended to protect the presidential candidate’s public image.
Trump was not physically present in the courtroom during the sentencing announcement, but participated remotely via video link, appearing on a screen alongside his lawyer Todd Blanche. Judge Merchan, in passing sentence, explained that, although the jury’s verdict remains valid, “the complexity of the constitutional issues related to the presidential role” made a conviction difficult to enforce.
In the United States, judges can decide not to impose a sentence even if there is a conviction. Merchan stressed that Trump’s election victory and his imminent return to the White House required particular attention to the constitutional and practical implications of possible incarceration.
Trump could have faced a maximum sentence of four years in prison, but his position as president-elect prompted the judge to opt for “unconditional release”which does not overturn the verdict but avoids any sanctions, including fines or prison sentences.
Merchan justified his decision by stating that «the protections granted to the president do not reduce the seriousness of the crime. It was the citizens who decided that she should enjoy protection such as the supremacy clause and presidential immunity.” He then concluded by wishing Trump “all the best” in his second term in the White House.
The sentencing was initially scheduled for July 11, 2024, but was postponed until after November 5, the day of the presidential election, following a Supreme Court decision that established partial immunity for former presidents.
During the process, Donald Trump and his lawyers have repeatedly criticized the accusations, calling them “a useless witch hunt” and announcing their intention to appeal the verdict. «I am innocent. This case should never have been brought forward,” Trump said during one of the hearings, which will be on first US president to be found guilty of a crime.
While the Stormy Daniels case appears to be over with this ruling, Trump remains involved in another criminal case, this time in the state of Georgia, where he is accused of attempting to alter the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Source: Vanity Fair
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