A US judge on Friday convicted President-elect Donald Trump of a felony conviction for paying a porn star. The sentence will decide the offense on his record. However, he will not go to jail or pay a fine.

Donald Trump He faced up to four years in prison. However, Manhattan Judge Joan M. Murchan chose a sentence that effectively ended the case, sidestepping thorny constitutional issues.

The decision ensured that the Republican would become the first US president with a felony conviction.

The judge said he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence. However, he added, the legal protection that Trump would have as president “is one factor that trumps all others.”

The judge said the president’s legal protections did not have the power to overturn the jury’s verdict.

Trump In May this year, he was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records. The judge, however, granted the lightest criminal sanction available – an unconditional discharge.

“Never before has this Court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances. The only legal sanction that would have permitted the entry of a judgment of conviction without usurping the highest office in the land,” the judge said. Yes, that is an unconditional release,” the judge said.

The US President-elect virtually attended the hearing. He called his conviction a huge blow to New York and the New York judicial system.

“It’s been a terrible experience. I think it’s a tremendous blow to New York and the New York judicial system,” Trump said.

He said that he was punished for losing the US presidential election.

“This was done to damage my reputation, so I will lose the election,” he said.

What is a Hush Money Case?

Trump was accused of falsifying his business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. She was paid to not reveal her sexual encounter a decade earlier during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Trump has denied having a sexual encounter.

AP, with AFP input