Donald Trump's 'unconditional discharge': What it means in the hush money case

UPDATED: Jan 10, 2025 21:34 IST

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced on Friday morning for his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush money case, but the judge declined to impose any punishment.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, the judge chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

“Ordinary citizens do not receive those legal protections,” New York Justice Juan Merchan said. “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.”

Merchan instead issued a so-called “unconditional discharge,” a decision that will spare the incoming president any jail time, fines or probation.

So, what does “unconditional discharge” mean:

An unconditional discharge in a legal term essentially means “the case is over, and a person is released from a criminal charge without any further consequences or obligations to fulfill.

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. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.

(With inputs from AP)