What Donald Trump said ahead of his sentencing in hush money case | World News

Trump made the remarks when he briefly addressed the court as he appeared virtually from his Florida home for the sentencing. He appeared with his lawyer on TV screens beamed to the courtroom with two American flags in the background.

A United States judge on Friday sentenced President-elect Donald Trump in the hush money case, but declined to impose any kind of punishment.

In the trial that ran over 2 months, the former and future US president was charged with 34 felonies and convicted by a jury on every count. Notably, Trump is the first former US president convicted of a felony.

In his address to the court, Trump, who appeared on a video feed 10 days before his inauguration, termed the case as a political witch hunt.

“It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work,” Trump said, according to the Associated Press.

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Trump further called the case “a weaponisation of government” and “an embarrassment to New York”. The 78-year-old Trump had potentially faced up to four years in prison.

What was the case against Trump?

Trump was convicted of falsifying business records to cover up the payment of $130,000 made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The money was meant to buy Daniels’ silence before the 2016 race to the White House about a sexual encounter she claimed to have had with Trump a decade ago.

However, the former US president denied the encounter and maintained his stance on the matter, vowing to appeal the verdict.

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