CNN's Elie Honig was astonished by the image of Donald Trump in his virtual appearance in court for a sentencing hearing on his felony convictions.
New York justice Juan Merchan granted an unconditional discharge of Trump's felony convictions on 34 counts of falsifying business records due to his impending inauguration to a second term as president, and Honig reacted to the president-elect officially becoming a convicted felon after losing a U.S. Supreme Court bid to halt the sentencing.
"They certainly they got fully dressed," Honig said, referring to a still shot of Trump and his attorney Todd Blanche at the virtual hearing. "I mean, right, and look, this is a criminal defendant at his sentencing, sitting in front of the American flag. I mean, I promise you, that's never happened before in American history."
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"You know, the judge made clear that you are only getting this sentence, the [district attorney] said the same thing, because of your status as president," Honig added. "Look, in our legal and constitutional system, the president just is different. One thing we will never know, I wish we could somehow figure this out. What would the sentence have been if Trump had not won the election, right? I mean, there certainly would have been some sort of probation. [New York] judge [Juan] Merchan – would he have sentenced to prison is one of those hypotheticals."
Trump avoided a possible four-year sentence behind bars for falsifying business records to shield hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, but Honig said the unconditional discharge was less than a slap on the wrist.
"As I say, at least you feel a slap on the wrist," he said. "I'm not sure this is even that, but again, it does make the conviction official."
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