President-elect Trump said his New York hush money sentencing on Friday was a “despicable charade” in a Friday Truth Social post.
“As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference,” the former president wrote in the post.
“Today’s event was a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
New York Judge Juan Merchan handed the Republican an unconditional discharge sentence with no objection from District Attorney Alvin Bragg, which renders him free of imprisonment, probation and fines.
However, the ruling will still make Trump the first convicted felon in the White House after his Jan. 20 inauguration.
Trump’s lawyer attempted to delay Friday’s sentencing in a flurry of legal filings in recent weeks, but were unsuccessful.
The Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision on Thursday refused Trump’s request to halt his criminal sentencing, closing off his last remaining pathway to avoid receiving his punishment for his 34-count felony conviction in New York.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court’s three liberals to deny Trump’s request. Four of the court’s conservatives, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, dissented.
Speaking at a previously scheduled event at Mar-a-Lago later Thursday, Trump noted the order highlighted his future appellate options.
“I read it, and I thought it was a fair decision, actually,” Trump said. “So I’ll do my little thing tomorrow. They can have fun with their political opponent.”
The New York jury convicted Trump this spring on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from a 2016 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about an alleged affair with Trump during his campaign. Prosecutors accused Trump of illegally concealing the payment with the intent to unlawfully influence that year’s election.
Trump has repeatedly denied the affair and any wrongdoing related to the payment.
