‘Godspeed for your second term’: Donald Trump gets unconditional discharge in hush money case 

President-elect Donald Trump was handed an “unconditional discharge” in the hush money case on January 10, meaning he is now a convicted felon but will face no further penalties. 

Justice Merchan handed out unconditional discharge to Trump on all 34 charges, as expected “I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term in office," he says. 

Merchan told the court that he has determined that unconditional discharge is “the only lawful sentence, without encroaching upon the highest office of the land”. 

An unconditional discharge means Trump does not face any fines, probation or jail time. The sentencing came just 10 days before Trump is set to be sworn in as the country’s 47th president. Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency. 

Donald Trump was convicted of falsifying business records last May – but his sentencing for the felony conviction was pushed back several times. 

Initially, Trump was scheduled to be sentenced in July, but Justice Juan Merchan decided to push the date back after a ruling from the Supreme Court declaring that presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts. 

Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said, “It’s a very sad day. It’s a sad day for President Trump and his family and his friends, but it’s also, in counsel’s view, a sad day for this country,” adding that Trump planned to fully appeal the case after the sentence was entered, as per a NBC News report. 

During hearing, Trump said his criminal trial and conviction has “been a very terrible experience” and insisted he committed no crime. 

“It’s been a political witch hunt,” he said. “It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work.” 

The hush money case accused Trump of fudging his business’ records to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump’s 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter she maintains the two had a decade earlier. Daniels testified that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he has denied.