Trump at sentencing hearing: 'I'm totally innocent'
President-elect Trump refused to take accountability for his hush money criminal conviction at his sentencing Friday, telling the judge he "did nothing wrong."
"The fact is, I'm totally innocent," Trump said.
Though judges often consider remorse when handing down sentences in criminal cases, Judge Juan Merchan previously signaled he had already made up his mind on sentencing Trump to an unconditional discharge — a rare alternative to prison or probation that still cements Trump’s status as a felon.
Merchan handed down the sentence Friday morning during a hearing that lasted roughly 40 minutes. With the judge’s permission, Trump joined the sentencing virtually with his attorney Todd Blanche. The president-elect donned a dark-colored blazer, white collared shirt, red tie and pin.
When given an opportunity to speak, Trump told the judge that his experience with Manhattan’s criminal court system was “very terrible,” describing his case as a “tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system.”
"It's an injustice of justice," Trump said.
On Truth Social shortly after the sentencing concluded, Trump asserted that Friday's hearing was a "despicable charade" and lamented that the "real Jury" elected him to victory this past November.
"The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History," Trump wrote.
"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," he added.
The former president repeated defense arguments from trial, including that his classification of a hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels to conceal an alleged affair as a “legal expense” was accurate.
"He said I was falsifying business records; I was calling a legal expense a legal expense,” Trump said.
Blanche also spoke at the sentencing, insisting that the “majority of the American people also agree that this case should not have been brought.”
“The American voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this was the kind of case that should be brought, and they decided, and that’s why in 10 days Trump will be POTUS,” Blanche said, vowing to appeal.
Trump’s sentencing now opens his ability to appeal his charges in normal course, which he has long vowed to do. He’s expected to appeal Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s entire theory of the case in addition to his presidential immunity appeals that remain pending.
New York jurors in May found Trump guilty of 34 felonies over a scheme intended to unlawfully sway the 2016 election by concealing the payment to Daniels. Trump has denied they had an affair.