On Friday, New York Judge Juan Merchan sentenced President-elect Donald Trump to an unconditional discharge in Trump’s 2016 election subversion hush money case. This means Trump will avoid jail time or probation despite being convicted by a jury on 34 felony charges. It also means Trump will enter the White House as the first president with a felony conviction. This is Judge Merchan.

Judge Juan Merchan: “After careful analysis in obedience to governing mandates and pursuant to the rule of law, this court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgment of conviction without encroaching upon the highest office in the land is an unconditional discharge, which the New York state Legislature has determined is a lawful and permissible sentence for the crime of falsifying business records in the first degree.”

Donald Trump appeared before the judge remotely and criticized the sentence.

President-elect Donald Trump: “It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I’d lose the election. And obviously that didn’t work. And the people of our country got to see this firsthand, because they watched the case in your courtroom.”

In other Trump news, special counsel Jack Smith has resigned from the Department of Justice. This comes as Trump continues to fight to block the release of Smith’s final report on his criminal investigations into Trump.