BREAKING: President Trump was sentenced in the “hush money” case to unconditional discharge, released with no restrictions – a sentence that includes neither jail time nor any other restriction.

Trump appeared in court virtually fom Mar-a-Lago.

The punishment-free judgement marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant. The case was the only one of four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, a liberal Democrat who hated Trump with a passion, could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he 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.