Judge Juan Merchan has decided to sentence Donald Trump to an “unconditional discharge.” It is not the erasure of Trump’s 34 felony convictions but it is, The New York Times explains, “a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation.” He had been facing up to four years in jail.
More from The Times:
An unconditional discharge would cement Mr. Trump’s status as a felon just weeks before his inauguration — he would be the first to carry that dubious designation into the presidency — even as it would water down the consequences for his crimes.
Unlike a conditional discharge, which allows defendants to walk free if they meet certain requirements, such as maintaining employment or paying restitution, an unconditional discharge would come without strings attached.
Trump never stops whining about how unfair the justice system has been to him but I’ll bet he can’t find anyone else with 34 felony convictions who wasn’t sentenced to jail. That’s not counting the 50 or so other felony charges he skated away from thanks to bamboozling his way back to the White House, with a quarter-million dollars worth of help from oligarch and puppet-master Elon Musk.
