President-elect Donald Trump received an unconditional discharge Friday in his New York criminal case involving hush money payments. Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan delivered the sentence formally making Trump the first criminal convict to assume the Oval Office, and it carries no jail time, probation, or fines. Trump attended the hearing remotely and described the case as a "political witch hunt" aimed at tarnishing his reputation. A jury in May found him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records tied to a $130,000 payment made by his lawyer to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. Judge Merchan stated that the unique protections of the presidency justified the lenient sentence.