Trump gets off Scott free

[orangecrush]

After months of delay, legal sparring, and constitutional uncertainty, President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced to an “unconditional discharge” over his felony conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The “unconditional discharge” sentence — which is what the prosecution requested — allows Trump to avoid any prison time, fines, probation, or other punishment, as in just over a week he will be sworn in as president and receive immunity from legal repercussions.


https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-sentenced-unconditional-discharge-hush-money-case-1235230935/

[travelingthrulife]

1. Welp. Our judicial system is truly dead.

[emulatorloo]

2. He's now a convicted felon. Our first convicted felon US President.

Quite an accomplishment.

[orangecrush]

5. Which hinders him not at all.

There is a class that is above the law.

[emulatorloo]

11. Merchan:

Judge Merchan:

"Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections. It is the office of the president that bestows those to the office holder. It is the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that you should once again receive the benefits of those protections."

[surfered]

3. Trump's Justice Dept put Michael Cohen in prison for his role in the same crime.

All crooks will now be running for President .

[dalton99a]

7. +1

[riversedge]

8. well...Donald Trump set the example.

[riversedge]

4. Donald Trump is now a convicted FELON!! ---until he pardons himself on Jan 20

[Jose Garcia]

9. He can't as this is a state conviction

[emulatorloo]

15. Appreciate the fact check.

[riversedge]

16. oh my! I completely forgot that. Thanks for the reminder!!

[Autumn]

6. It's very clear we have a tiered justice system.

[DeepWinter]

10. I bet my Brother

$20 Trump would get off 100% scott free. I just knew that's how it would work. Punishment is for us tax paying working class.

[Traildogbob]

12. Well

I guess we can stop saying people of color get the harshest justice there is.
Maybe we should all paint ourselves orange if we face a judge.
Now he is empowered even more to do whatever the fuck he wants to this country. Consequences………..
Get that fuck outta here!!!!😡🤬🖕🏿🖕🏾🖕🏽🖕🏼🇺🇸

[Think. Again.]

13. Where Merchan went wrong...

...on trump's sentencing day... He is NOT a sitting President.

[underpants]

14. But he is a convicted felon.

[orangecrush]

18. Which affects him not in the least.

[gab13by13]

24. Right now he can't vote in Florida. 😊

[Attilatheblond]

26. Aren't there countries who deny entrance to CONVICTED felons?

His travel options just might be affected. We know he loves to travel around on our dime and be all impotent (deliberate spelling) and shit

[Lokee11]

28. Well according to him -

He does not need any votes - he has all the votes he needs!

Perfectly normal thing to say and express while out campaigning while running for pres and not a red flag RE: election integrity.




✊FDT!

[riversedge]

19. YUP. and as someone reminded me--this is State court--so Trumpy can NOT pardon his own crimes.

[sarisataka]

17. Requested by the prosecution???

way to roll over and show your belly.

Why didn't they just request the convictions be thrown out and have his record expunged? That will eventually happen anyway.

[wishstar]

20. I always thought Hunter Biden would be punished before Trump

and he would have if he hadn't been pardoned before his sentencing since it's doubtful Hunter would have received only an unconditional discharge.

[Kid Berwyn]

21. "Convicted Felon" has a certain ring to it.

Being President of the United States is the highest form of Control Fraud yet devised. However, should realprezidunt Elon Musk become president of Earth or Mars, all bets are off.

https://www.acamstoday.org/white-collar-crime-an-overview-of-the-crimes-more-than-80-year-existence/

[La Coliniere]

22. I have a couple friends who are professional musicians.

They are both apolitical and very cynical about American politics. They haven’t voted in many years and hold the opinion that our system of government is entirely corrupt and that “justice for all” is an absurd joke. I’ve pushed back on their arguments in the past. Sad to say they’ve been correct in their appraisal of our judicial system and I’m now in their camp.

[Rebl2]

32. Sorry

but they are right. Many of the very wealthy, it seems anymore, get away with breaking laws. The rest of us nobodies would go to prison for less than what they did. I do continue to vote and will as long as I am able to.

[RANDYWILDMAN]

23. No Fines ??? WTF

What a piece of garbage.

Did Cohen serve like 3 years for the same crime and he is the boss, so his punishment should be worse than that?

[gab13by13]

25. Hope Hicks testified at his trial

Her testimony was minor but she worked in the White House which will give the Supreme Court an excuse to overturn the conviction.

[Sundance1220]

27. Then he will be tried again

And next time there will be no hindrance of his office to stop the maximum penalty. This will hang over his head until the day he dies.

[Passages]

29. We need to change, US Presidents have in fact committed crimes, GW Bush is but one.

Holding any citizen to account should be a priority and until we meet that challenge we have failed. We should not need "courageous" judges/prosecutors, our laws should be clear. If they are muddied, then we must demand our lawmakers change said laws.



Indictments of a sitting or former president remain an uncertain area of Constitutional law. The Constitution does not directly address indictments for either, and the Supreme Court has never had an opportunity to rule directly on the issue. Overall, most legal experts support the possibility of indicting a former president at least for certain crimes, but there is less consensus on the indictment of a sitting president.

SNIP
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has a continuing policy since the 1970s that sitting presidents cannot be indicted as it would unconstitutionally prevent them from performing their duties as the head of the executive branch (see this Attorney General Memo). Essentially, if a president became indicted, this position holds that the entire Executive would be compromised from fulfilling its obligations given the unique powers of the president. This privilege does not extend to any other person, including the vice president. This line of reasoning has been supported by Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story in a treatise and strongly argued for by Justice Samuel Alito in a dissent in Trump v. Vance, 140 S. Ct. 2412. Further, the executive branch has complete prosecutorial discretion, which in theory gives the president authority over whether to indict themselves. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/indictment_of_presidents

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

30. Nation of laws! Will LMAO next time I hear that.

[Rebl2]

31. No surprise

They have been saying that all week.

[DSandra]

33. Judge values their future more than issuing out a sentence

Everyone’s bending the knee…

[republianmushroom]

34. 'Scott free', No, he has to carry the label of convicted sentenced felon for the rest of his life.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

35. As a convicted felon, TFG aka The Felon Guy has to submit a DNA sample to the New York criminal database

This makes me smile

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