Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Books are my comfort food!

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

In my day, never was longer.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trump Indictments / First Felon Sentencing Day – Release of Jack Smith’s Report Day (hopefully) Coming Soon

First Felon Sentencing Day – Release of Jack Smith’s Report Day (hopefully) Coming Soon

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This post is in: ,

Bad news x2 for the pathetic incoming president!

Sentencing today.  Volume 1 of Jack Smith’s report could be released as soon as Sunday.

Let us savor.

That makes Trump the First Felon to be elected president.  lowtechcyclist suggested that in last night’s thread. It’s perfect.

FIRST FELON.

Does that make him FFOTUS?

Personally, I am hoping the incoming president FIRST FELON also gets slapped around by some of the countries he is threatening.

No, make that ALL OF THE COUNTRIES he is threatening.

From CNBC:

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced without any penalties Friday in his New York criminal hush money case, 10 days before his inauguration for a second White House term.

Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge,” meaning no jail, no probation and no fine.

But the sentence will still formally make Trump the first criminal convict ever to occupy the Oval Office.

“This has been a very terrible experience,” Trump, who attended the hearing remotely, said before receiving the sentence.

“This has been a political witch hunt,” he said, claiming the case was brought “to damage my reputation so I would lose the election.”

A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 hush money payment his then-personal lawyer paid porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 presidential election. Daniels was paid for her silence about claims she had sex once with Trump a decade earlier, claims the president-elect has denied.

Merchan said that an unconditional discharge was the only lawful sentence he could deliver without encroaching on the office of the presidency.

The protection of that office “is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.

“Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections,” he said.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass noted at the start of the hearing that the charges against Trump each carry a sentence of up to four years in state prison.

But “the People recommend a sentence of unconditional release,” said Steinglass.

“We must be respectful of the office of the presidency, and mindful of the fact that this defendant will be inaugurated as president in ten days,” he explained.

But the prosecutor also slammed Trump for his relentless attacks on the justice system throughout the case, saying the president-elect “caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system.”

Trump, appearing on a monitor wearing a red striped tie and sitting in front of American flags, frowned and looked bored during Steinglass’ remarks.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche responded that he disagreed with the prosecutor about the validity of the case and about Trump’s conduct.

“It’s a sad day for President Trump and his family and his friends, but it’s also … a sad day for this country,” said Blanche, whom Trump picked to be deputy U.S. attorney general in the next administration.

Despite his complaints in the courtroom, Trump declared victory on social media after the hearing.

“The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. His post claimed that the penalty-free sentence proved the case lacked merit, even though Merchan made clear that he gave an unconditional discharge because Trump will soon be president.

Thursday’s hearing came a day after Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, attended the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter in Washington. The Trumps sat with every other living former president.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday night lifted the final legal barrier to Trump’s sentencing, refusing his request to block proceedings in the case.

The decision was narrow — 5-to-4 — with Trump appointee Justice Amy Coney Barrett joining fellow conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and three liberal justices to issue the majority decision.

All respect to Justice Merchan, who held all the ground he believed he legally could.

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    Jackie

    It makes him the first president ineligible to vote! That makes me happy – although I’m sure Puddin’ Boots will find a way to restore the FCFOTUS’s right to vote – while denying other Floridian felons the same.

  5. 5.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Anyone have an informed opinion on why no penalties at all?

    ETA: I know that Merchan argle-bargled about the convicted felon moving on to a new job, but WTF does that have to do with the price of tea in China

    ETA: And I know what the prosecutor recommended. But again, the convict shows no remorse and gives every indication of being a repeat offender. Why don’t those concerns AT LEAST mitigate against the get out of jail free bullshit sentencing?

  7. 7.

    Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)

    I would have thought a suspended sentence – penalty appropriate to the offense, but in abeyance until Felonious Thunk relinquishes the WH – would have been more suitable.

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    I suggest that everyone remind their friends, relatives, neighbors, and elected representatives that the Mango Menace is about to become the lamest of lame-duck presidents and no one – not even MAGA politicians – owes him a damn thing.

    convicted felon, subject of Jack Smith’s upcoming J6 report, soon to be pardoner of J6 cop-beaters, and obvious dementia patient.  nope, we don’t even have to wait for the midterms to point out he’s a LAME DUCK

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    @Jackie: It makes him the first president ineligible to vote!

    AP Reports that is not correct.

    Trump is registered to vote in Florida and he will be able to vote there.

    Florida does bars people convicted of felonies from voting, but restores their right to vote after they have completed their sentence. People convicted of murder or a sex offense lose their right to vote permanently unless their rights are restored by a clemency board.

    For people convicted of felonies in other states — like Trump — Florida only makes a person ineligible to vote if they lost their voting rights in the state where they were convicted. New York doesn’t let a person convicted of a felony vote while they are incarcerated, but restores voting rights once that person is released.

  11. 11.

    hrprogressive

    The real headline is that the United States of America, a country ostensibly founded 250± years ago on the concept of avoiding the lack of accountability the monarchy came with

    Has now provided a total lack of accountability to the office of the presidency, up to and including criminal acts.

    Welcome to being a Failed State, y’all.

  14. 14.

    Baud

    OT via blue sky

    My happy but plain vanilla life stands in contrast to the lurid rhetoric and terrifying intentions of Governor Greg Abbott, his allies in the state Legislature, and Republican lawmakers across the country, as well as the goals of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s extremist blueprint for America’s future. Friends out of state urge me to leave Texas, which is where I have always lived. They fear for my safety. Some trans people I know refuse even to travel through Texas.

     

    Their fears are not unwarranted. What I’ve found, however, is that even in rural Texas the average person couldn’t care less about my gender. Most Texans who know me and hear my story are supportive, wherever they happen to lie on the political spectrum. They may not understand it, but they accept it and move on. Those who do shun, hate, or fear seem, in my view, to be either insecure in their own identity or to be captured by merchants of fear in right-wing media.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @Chief Oshkosh: I am not a lawyer, but I’m guessing it was a strategic move on Justice Merchan’s part –  guessing that if he had imposed a sentence the US Supreme Court would not have upheld the felony conviction.

    I do think it’s key that he has is now a convicted FELON.

  21. 21.

    TBone

    Judge Engoron enters the chat…

    A New York court assigned a new judge to preside over the civil fraud case against President-elect Trump brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, seemingly replacing Judge Arthur Engoron, but hours later, the court put him back on the case, sources close to Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital.
    The case and the trial were handled by Judge Arthur Engoron, who was accused by Trump allies of acting with bias against the president-elect, his family and his company.

    Not linking to Fux.

    Engoron, after a weeks-long non-jury civil fraud trial that began in October 2023, ruled last year that Trump and defendants were liable for “persistent and repeated fraud,” “falsifying business records,” “issuing false financial statements,” “conspiracy to falsify false financial statements,” “insurance fraud,” and “conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.”

  22. 22.

    Scout211

    I think I prefer FFF over FFPOTUS.  Fucking First Felon.   I may change my mind, these things are fluid, but it eliminates any title with “President” in it.  Either Trump or FFF for now.  We’ll see what sticks.

  23. 23.

    Mai Naem mobile ¹

    Always looking for a silver lining. Maybe Orange Lump will spend lots of time stewing over this, thus giving him less time to do other damage.

  24. 24.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @WaterGirl: Thanks for the response. The Supreme Shits have already not taken up the case. Would that change based on the sentence? IANAL either. It’s a state case and there are sentencing guidelines. Seems like those could have been followed, but suspended, as SMH at #7 suggests.

    But it is what it is. As I’ve written before, this entire Trump decade has taught me a lot about how fucked-in-the-head about half the population is and about how weak our institutions are.

  26. 26.

    Another Scott

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    EmptyWheel.net – Judge Merchan’s Half Baby:

    Judge Merchan’s Half Baby
    January 3, 2025/39 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election /by emptywheel

    Judge Merchan has rejected Trump’s challenges to his conviction in the New York hush money case and scheduled a sentencing for January 10. But he has intimated he will sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge — meaning he won’t serve a jail sentence or probation.

    In my opinion, this is a tactical decision and like every other legal decision about Donald Trump, unsatisfying and inadequate.

    I think Merchan is trying to affirm the import of the jury’s guilty verdict, while daring Trump to ask for more.

    The tradeoff I think Merchan is making is that by giving Trump nothing tangible to lose except his claim to innocence, he nevertheless situates the case in such a way that Trump can appeal.

    But Merchan did so while weighing the record in favor of judicial independence.

    After affirming the seriousness of Trump’s crime and the evidence against Trump (the first of ten “Clayton Factors” Merchan was obliged to consider given Trump’s request he just make the case go away), Merchan next addressed Trump’s claim that his contributions to society say he should escape punishment.

    Merchan used that factor to discuss Trump’s attacks on Courts and Rule of Law. Among the items Merchan listed was the need to gag Trump; he noted, too, that even the Supreme Court backed his decision.

    […]

    Click on over for the rest.

    Is she right? Dunno. IANAL.

    FWIW.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Would that change based on the sentence?

    The point I was trying to make in my previous reply is yes, I believe that if he had sentenced Trump SCOTUS might well have not let it stand.  I think it’s right there in the parts of Merchan’s statements that I bolded.

  29. 29.

    brantl

    @Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq): I don’t understand why they didn’t sentence him to prison, starting on January 23rd, 2029? This would be exactly appropriate, along with fines for his sedition, starting then, and in sufficient amount to bankrupt the orange human hemorrhoid.

  32. 32.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @hrprogressive:

    Has now provided a total lack of accountability to the office of the presidency, up to and including criminal acts.

    Not really total. It only applies to Republicans.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    @hrprogressive:

    I agree. Most people knew we had a two tier justice system before but now it’s official. If you are rich/powerful laws simply don’t apply. Endorsed by the judiciary.

  39. 39.

    karen gail

    @Kay: This is just more than “knowing” it is rubbing your face in dirt filled with sh*t.
    Most women have had their faces rubbed in dirt when trying to deal with men to some degree or another; the amount of sh*t in the dirt depended largely on how rich or powerful the man is/was.

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @brantl: Yeah, but new people come to Balloon Juice all the time, and they don’t know.  Hell, I’m here a lot and people still throw around acronyms that I don’t know.

    Full disclosure, acronyms that aren’t well-known make me crazy.  Maybe that’s just me.

  41. 41.

    brantl

    @WaterGirl:  Whatever happened with the investigation that Balloon Juice was doing with the voter suppression laws that were attempted, a couple of years ago? Where did they advance suppression, and where were they beaten back? I never heard any boiled-down analysis of this?

  43. 43.

    karen gail

    Most people in US like to pretend that “all men are created equal” actually means something; but have forgotten most of those “founding fathers” were slave owning rich white men. These men were envisioning a country where nobility and birth rank alone made you untouchable; they wanted wealth and power to be the standard by which a land owning man became untouchable.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @brantl: Yeah, once Marc Elias took that up and focused on voter suppression, we figured he had that handled as well as it could be, so we ended up focusing on other aspects.

    HIs record is pretty damn good.

  46. 46.

    brantl

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, but I still have no idea what the state of this is right now, I don’t know how many places they got away with it. There was a whole potload of stuff that they tried to get passed here in Michigan. They were going to challenge signatures, among other things, and being left handed, and arthritic, I never sign the same way twice.

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    @Chief Oshkosh: Tactical but unsatisfying is an excellent description.

    I feel much better about it because of these things from Merchan that are now on the record.

    Merchan said that an unconditional discharge was the only lawful sentence he could deliver without encroaching on the office of the presidency.

    The protection of that office “is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said.

    “Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections,” he said.

    “We must be respectful of the office of the presidency, and mindful of the fact that this defendant will be inaugurated as president in ten days,” he explained.

    But the prosecutor also slammed Trump for his relentless attacks on the justice system throughout the case, saying the president-elect “caused enduring damage to the public perception of the criminal justice system.”

  49. 49.

    Antonius

    “Not even a goddamed fine” is not “holding all the ground he could”. It’s telling America that there is one law for the nobility, and another for the peasants. We fought a war of independence because of shit like this.

  50. 50.

    Jeffro

    @brantl: many thanks!

    lame duck lame duck lame fucking duck

    LAME DUCK LAME DUCK DEMENTIA DON THE LAME DUCK

    I’m gonna pull a reverse Kash Patel and write me a kids’ book about Donnie the Lame Duck

    (or set the words to the tune of ‘Baby Shark’)

    (or both?)

  51. 51.

    KatKapCC

    @WaterGirl: I hate when people just make up acronyms no one uses. The other day on FB, I saw a comment which said something like “IDL that movie” and they meant “I don’t like that movie”. And I thought, well IDL you being so lazy you have to acronym-ize half of every sentence.

  52. 52.

    NotoriousJRT

    @WaterGirl: the court implied as much in its decision. The immunity case reverberates through every thing Trump (and theoretically any other President) does. It is a shit sandwich that will keep on giving for generations.

  55. 55.

    Roberto el oso

    @KatKapCC: right with you on acronyms. Some may actually be more widely used than I’m aware of (being a happy old dinosaur). The most recent one to baffle me was in a text from a friend who was replying to my message that I had arrived at their apt complex. Their message was “OMWBRT” …. which stood for “on my way be right there” …. a thumb’s up emoji and a laughing cat would have done the job just as well.

  56. 56.

    Kay

    @karen gail:

    It seems like it’s collapsing really fast to me. I don’t really understand why others don’t see it.
    Ah well. Keep going. No other choice.

  57. 57.

    hitchhiker

    The court said the president is immune from prosecution for almost anything he chooses to do while in office; today’s ruling is what that looks like.

    Agree with those who say this is the clearest possible example of our two-tiered justice system, and that it’s certainly not news.

  60. 60.

    Captain C

    Merchan said that an unconditional discharge was the only lawful sentence he could deliver without encroaching on the office of the presidency.

    There’s no way he could have given a long-ass suspended sentence?  Or started the prison sentence the moment he leaves office (or on January 21st, 2029)?

  61. 61.

    Captain C

    @Jeffro:

    soon to be pardoner of J6 cop-beaters

    If he tries this, good political ads could be made out of this.  Pics of various J6 fuckheads attacking cops (and doing other ugly shit, in some cases literally) followed by large graphics of “PARDONED BY THE FELON-IN-CHIEF!” and the most raggedy-ass pic of TCFG that can be found.  Maybe with voiceover pointing out that TCFG had pardoned felons who attacked cops on TCFG’s request, and if the Dems ever get even half as slick as the 2016 Cambridge Analytica shit they can microtarget these ads to independents/undecideds/oblivious types who are known to support the police (and flood them, not just once or twice until the knob-headed consultants hit their fainting couches over how mean they are).

  62. 62.

    Kosh III

    Fuck the Judge for his cowardice.  He could have sentenced him to 7 days in jail, starting immediately. That way he’d be free before he takes office.
    The judge fucked Lady Justice and proves beyond a shadow of doubt that there are two systems of Justice.

  64. 64.

    jimmiraybob

    Article II  Section 4 of the United States Constitution: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”

    We will now officially have a lawless unconstitutional president.  Yippy Zippy!

    The liberal democratic experiment is done.  New America starts on the 20th.

  65. 65.

    jimmiraybob

    If only there was currently someone in the White House that has sworn a solemn oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

  67. 67.

    TONYG

    The more than 77 million people who voted for Trump in November are empirically too stupid to read or to think, so Jack Smith’s report will mean nothing to them.  Maybe there will be no more elections.  I am so sick of this fucking country.

  68. 68.

    jimmiraybob

    @TONYG: “… people who voted for Trump in November are empirically too stupid to read or to think, …”

    That is certainly a huge component.  But don’t leave out those that are just plan malicious and evil ….. and Libertarian in the Ayn Rand mold.

  69. 69.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: I don’t doubt her experience. About a fifth of LGBTQ people live in rural red areas, and from what I’ve heard they’re often treated OK on an individual basis. Albeit often with an unspoken “people know but don’t ‘know'” social arrangement, where it’s live and let live as long as you’re not (too) openly out and proud and “know your place.”

    But… that’s not mutually exclusive with state politicians targeting trans people for legal discrimination and harassment. There’s a reason why TX politicians have been compiling lists of trans people getting trans healthcare, who’ve gotten name changes, etc.

    I really hope she doesn’t find out the hard way that while her neighbors may be accepting, they won’t lift a finger to save her from having her healthcare banned and her current legal ID revoked.

  71. 71.

    Shakti

    @Captain C:

    Well, what’s the odds on when this dude puts his J6 pardons into effect?

    Unfortunately a plurality of this country (not including those who voted for 3rd party, “Please vote for Trump after I dropped out” RJK) think he committed no crime, and those [  ]committed no crimes.

    They perhaps identify with Trump and those [ ] rather than some party that has to follow law that Trump and those [ ] don’t.

    I’m not sure how much the record even matters if the facts have no basis in what actually happens and what consequences occur.

    Or if people lack long term memory.

     

    Such as elections still exist, we’d be better served by making sure people who would vote against this can actually vote. And running people who will actually do something when in office instead of shrugging and filing a report.

    The only reason I could think for this absurd sentence is it gives Trump 1) no basis to complains about stupid witch hunts as hail marys to stop him from being inaugurated and 2) no basis  to hold onto power after his term ends for fear of penalties, jail time, financial consequences.

    As if he would need an actual basis and couldn’t just make one up out of aggrievedness.

    And to think the entire prosecution and case for these crimes arose because he couldn’t or wouldn’t hold up his end of an NDA,.

    An NDA he put into effect to preserve a reputation of a married man he didn’t have for a wife who doesn’t care and probably has an ironclad prenup and for a base for whom it isn’t a deal breaker.  I’d really hate to be Michael Cohen now, to have done all that  for nothing on top of nothing on top of nothing.

    I don’t know that people will internalize that they are disposable henchmen, and disposable henchmen get punished when the people directing it won’t. Or they can be made to understand that.  Or that Trump doesn’t think of them as supporters but as suckers and tools who will fall for it every time.

  73. 73.

    Shakti

    @Captain C:

    He may try this.

    But on the other hand the j6 [ ] served their purpose to Trump and Trump is not the kind of person who believes loyalty goes both ways. Are they more useful to him in jail or pardoned so they can go on a loud injustice tour?

    I mean, plausible* deniability right?

    *not really

    I’m not sure how much people understand this immunity to extend to them or that they are really just disposable henchmen and suckers who’ll fall for it every time.  Or if they do understand it would they change their behavior/attitudes towards Trump?

  75. 75.

    Roberto el oso

    @Shakti: Michael Cohen has, to all appearances, at least gotten his soul back. The same cannot be said for most who’ve served Trump (including those who, while not being true believers, were opportunists, such as John Bolton and John Kelly).

  77. 77.

    Geminid

    @Captain C: Also, you can count on plenty of the pardoned J6 criminals to commit more crimes. Domestic abuse will likely be the most common but there will be others as well.

  78. 78.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TONYG: Poor libertarians are the ultimate in “temporarily embarrassed billionaires”–they seem to believe that if the government weren’t keeping them down they’d be kings.

  81. 81.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @Shakti:

    The only reason I could think for this absurd sentence is it gives Trump 1) no basis to complains about stupid witch hunts as hail marys to stop him from being inaugurated and 2) no basis  to hold onto power after his term ends for fear of penalties, jail time, financial consequences.

    You beat me to it. No reason for Trump to make like Julius Caesar and cross the Rubicon.

  82. 82.

    ...now I try to be amused

    @TBone:

    I want a new postage stamp design honoring Stephanie Clifford.  With a lightning bolt on it.

    And a mushroom!

  85. 85.

    Gvg

    @Antonius: a lot of us needed it to be spelled out like that. Rub our noses in it.

    We also need to start stating plainly that this stems from problems with the corrupt Supreme Court. They have been making rulings that are plainly unfair nonsense that favor the rich and expect us to believe them and accept it? And it’s specific judges doing it, some of whom have been proven to have accepted money and gifts from the rich. They are corrupt. We need to say that over and over. Then it will become something politicians can campaign on and win.

    we also need to be specific about corrupt politicians, naming name and party. When it’s a democrat, we say, “and we got rid of him instead of covering it up, and that matters”

    But I think the corruption of the Supreme Court is going to be more upsetting to people. Corporations are not people, and that ruling was clearly setting up allowing bribes. Saying we didn’t need racial voting protections anymore and look what has happened in the few year since, which any intelligent person knew, Roberts was lying IMO. Multiple rulings disregarding women as people that eventually led to overturning Roe. Overturning deference to experts is just stupid. In fact overturning all the precedents they have is terrible for good business practices.
    Saying any person in America is above the law is just too unbelievable to accept. It’s BS. Silly. To be honest I thought the Nixon era idea that you couldn’t prosecute a sitting President was bull all along, and they managed to go after Clinton, but that was Congress not Justice. It’s fundamental. No one is above the law.

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