By the time he appeared virtually in Merchan’s courtroom Friday morning, Trump knew full well that he would face no real penalty for his conviction. The judge was well-aware that we bubble-wrap presidents and protect them from legal proceedings and sentences that could undermine their ability to do their jobs.

Friday’s punishment was largely symbolic, but it ensured that Donald J. Trump would become America’s first felon president.

Donald Trump was sentenced without penalty in the New York hush money case Friday after a symbolic – and historic and unprecedented – hearing following the first felony conviction of a former and soon-to-be sitting president.

President-elect Donald Trump spoke for six minutes. The judge talked for seven. In the end, the first criminal court sentencing of a former or future president took little more than half an hour.

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced to unconditional discharge in the hush money trial on Jan. 10. Supreme Court Signals It’s Likely to Uphold TikTok Ban in US 10 Old-School Sports Cars That Can Actually Take A Beating Mel Gibson's house burned down in LA wildfires while he was on Joe Rogan's podcast Delta Airlines praised for holding flight to allow daughter time with dying mother Whales can live way longer than scientists had thought,

Here's what is means when a court grants an unconditional discharge, as happened with President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case Jan. 10.

Donald Trump was not punished for his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush money case, bringing a lackluster end to the legal saga that will make him the country’s first felon-turned-president. At a sentencing hearing on Friday,