After Donald Trump won reelection to the US presidency, prosecutors dropped two of the four prosecutions he’d faced during much of his campaign to return to the White House. Those were both federal cases.

President-elect Donald Trump spoke for six minutes. The judge talked for seven. In the end, the first criminal court sentencing of a former or future president took little more than half an hour.

Friday’s punishment was largely symbolic, but it ensured that Donald J. Trump would become America’s first felon president.

President-elect Donald Trump turned to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to stop the sentencing, citing the conservative majority’s explosive immunity opinion.

Judge Juan Merchan imposed an "unconditional discharge” that means Trump receives no prison time or probation. Trump continues to appeal conviction.

President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his historic hush money case to an unconditional discharge -- allowing Trump to avoid prison, fines or probation, but cementing his status as a convicted felon just 10 days before he takes the oath of office for his second term.

Supporters and protesters share thoughts on Donald Trump's sentencing outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York City on Jan. 10, 2025.

On Friday, a New York judge imposed a sentence that ensures Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon to enter the White House when he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20. It was a brief and relatively calm final encounter of Trump's relationship with Justice Juan Merchan over 21 months and featured accusations of political bias from the former and stern dressings-down from the latter.