When a 34-count conviction equals zero punishment

Jan 10, 2025

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THE CATCH-UP

President-elect Donald Trump, right, appears remotely with attorney Todd Blanche for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters via AP, Pool)

Donald Trump appeared virtually for a sentencing hearing in his business fraud/hush money case this morning. | AP

After a year of legal wrangling and a conviction on 34 felony charges, it all adds up to this for President-elect DONALD TRUMP: No jail time, no punishment and no probation.

That’s the headline news out of New York this morning, where Trump appeared virtually for a sentencing hearing in his business fraud/hush money case just 10 days before he is due to take the oath of office as president for the second time.

Citing the protection of the Oval Office as a “factor that overrides all others,” Justice JUAN MERCHAN said that Trump’s only reprieve from punishment was his looming presidency: “Donald Trump, the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant, would not be entitled to such considerable protections.”

Said Merchan: “This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction without encroachment on the highest office of the land is a sentence of unconditional discharge.”

The sentence is rare in felony cases, and the charges Trump faced could have resulted in “up to four years in prison and several thousands of dollars in fines per count,” Ben Johansen reports. That said, an unconditional discharge often bars felons from voting or owning a firearm, depending on the state.

Merchan’s ruling wraps up a tumultuous journey for Trump with what amounts to a legal slap on the wrist. More from Erica Orden

Trump’s reaction: “The Radical Democrats have lost another pathetic, unAmerican Witch Hunt,” Trump posted on Truth Social after the proceedings wrapped. “That result alone proves that, as all Legal Scholars and Experts have said, THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED … As the American People have seen, this ‘case’ had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference.”

YOUR AFTERNOON Q&A — “Facebook Gave a Key Trump Ally a Preview of Its New Plans,” by Dasha Burns: “ALEX BRUESEWITZ discusses the social media giant’s effort to rebuild its relationship with the right.”

ON THE JOBS — In the latest sign of the economy’s strength as Washington prepares for a new administration, the Labor Department released its December jobs report this morning, brimming with sunny statistics that exceeded economists’ expectations. The toplines:

Employers added a net 256,000 jobs last month, far surpassing the expected roughly 165,000 jobs, per Bloomberg.

Unemployment fell to 4.1% in December — roughly in line with where it was for most of 2024 — after a 0.1-point increase in November.

Wages have grown by 3.9% over the past year — a rate that is faster than inflation.

The big question for Trump: Can he keep it going?

The good news for Trump: “That positive jobs report will create an even wider avenue for Trump to take credit for an economy that many Wall Street investors and analysts expect to remain solid at least through the early days of his second presidency,” Sam Sutton and Victoria Guida write.

The bad news for Trump: “The danger for Trump will be if the economy’s performance falters even slightly from the sky-high hopes that investors have for his administration,” Sam and Victoria write. “There’s already evidence that the post-election euphoria that propelled the stock market to new heights has started to wane. … [H]e may soon have to grapple with similar economic forces that bedeviled [President JOE] BIDEN for much of his administration.”

WATCH THIS SPACE — This weekend, different factions of the House GOP will descend on Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and “rough out the architecture of their ‘one big, beautiful bill’ to cut taxes, reduce spending and boost border security,” as WSJ’s Richard Rubin puts it.

“Among those expected to meet with Trump are members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus demanding spending cuts and blue-state lawmakers focused on raising the $10,000 cap on state and local tax deductions,” Rubin writes. “The idea is to write a bill that satisfies all of the House GOP’s corners while the party has postelection momentum and while Trump has maximum clout.” As always, stay tuned to Playbook for the readout.

Happy Friday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at birvine@politico.com.

NEWS FROM THE HOME TEAM — POLITICO is rolling out a new evolution of our Congress team, with a stellar cast of reporters coming together to deliver the best political and policy coverage on Capitol Hill. Joining the team are Meredith Lee Hill, who will cover House GOP leadership; Lisa Kashinsky and Mia McCarthy, who will helm the “Inside Congress” newsletter; Ben Leonard, who will cover domestic policy; and Hailey Fuchs, who is coming on to cover the judiciary, oversight and ethics committees in the House and Senate. They join Congress team veterans Nicholas Wu, Daniella Diaz, Ursula Perano, Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus. Read the full announcement

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington.

The fate of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance today as the Supreme Court carries on into its third hour of oral arguments. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

1. TIKTOK ON THE CLOCK: The fate of TikTok in the U.S. hangs in the balance today as the Supreme Court carries on into its third hour of oral arguments over a federal law that would effectively shut down the popular social media app in the United States. The TikTok ban is set to go into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19 if it’s not blocked by the high court, and so far it’s not looking good.

During the arguments, the Supreme Court justices went 30 minutes over time in grilling TikTok executives over the platform’s parent company, while both conservative and liberal justices appeared doubtful, Christine Mui reports. Early on in the arguments, Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS pushed back against TikTok lawyer NOEL FRANCISCO’s claim that TikTok was ultimately unassociated with the Chinese government, noting: “It seems to me that you’re ignoring the major concern here of Congress, which was Chinese manipulation of the content and acquisition and harvesting of the content.” A ruling isn’t expected immediately and the justices still have to question DOJ officials.

Meanwhile, creators on the social media platform are already bracing themselves for the ban. According to estimates from the platform, “around 2 million creators would suffer $300 million in lost earnings in just one month” should it go into effect, CNN’s Clare Duffy reports.

2. THE LATEST IN CALIFORNIA: As wildfires continue to ravage the southern coast of Los Angeles, President JOE BIDEN will meet with key officials today for a briefing as the federal government scrambles to respond to the disaster.

The White House meeting comes after Biden approved California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM’s request for a declaration of emergency for the region yesterday and as evacuation orders have forced 180,000 residents from their homes this week. Since the fires began Tuesday, “the level of devastation is jarring,” AP’s Jaimie Ding, Julie Watson and John Seewer report, though firefighters hope that a break in the fire-stoking winds this evening could allow them to make more progress in subduing the flames.

Meanwhile, the fiery politics haven’t slowed either … ELON MUSK is continuing to amplify “far-right narratives about the disaster” on X, blaming Democrats and progressive diversity policies, WaPo’s Pranshu Verma, Will Oremus and Trisha Thadani report: “Musk has posted or replied to more than 80 posts about the fire, many of which pinned the devastation on liberal policies, in some cases based on false claims or racist ideas.”

3. BIDEN’S PARTING BLOW, PART I: This morning, the Biden administration approved an 18-month extension of temporary protections for more than 230,000 El Salvador residents who feared losing their work permits when Trump takes office, WaPo’s Maria Sacchetti and Marianne LeVine report. “The Biden administration said Salvadorans merit the extension based on a continuing ‘environmental disaster’” as the country works to recover from the 2001 earthquakes. The extension works to safeguard the work visas, which were set to expire in May, from Trump’s increasingly aggressive immigration strategies. During his first term, Trump “attempted to terminate the protections for Salvadorans and other groups, disparaging them as coming from ‘s---hole’ countries.”

4. BIDEN’S PARTING BLOW, PART II: As Biden works to shore up his legacy in defense of Ukraine, the White House also announced today a slew of new sanctions against two of Russia’s largest oil producers and nearly 200 tanker ships, WaPo’s Karen DeYoung reports: “The sweeping new sanctions also include measures against a long list of other entities involved in virtually all sectors of Russia’s energy business and what officials described as a ‘narrowing’ of the U.S. Treasury Department license” with Russia.

5. WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED: “Trump Says World Is Free-Riding on U.S. Health Spending. He Has a Point,” by WSJ’s David Wainer and Jon Sindreu: “While the U.S. accounts for a little over a quarter of the global economy, it contributes about 70% of pharmaceutical profits … This is why critics of the U.S. system, including European officials, have long argued that the U.S.’s free-riding problem is self-inflicted and keeps drug prices artificially high. … But it is hard to argue with the idea that, by paying more, Americans seed the rest of the world with innovation.”

6. INTO THE WILD: “Economists Are in the Wilderness. Can They Find a Way Back to Influence?” by NYT’s Ben Casselman: “That shift is partly a result of what economists often refer to as the ‘credibility revolution’ — the embrace of a more data-driven, experiment-based approach to research … Some in the field see the problem mostly as one of communication — they need to do a better job of explaining, both to policymakers and the public, why their arguments make sense.”

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PLAYBOOKERS

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is using podcasts and YouTube to reach Americans.

Nicolás Maduro was sworn in as Venezuela’s new president.

Bob Mendendez may face a 15-year sentence for his bribery conviction.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Kate Kline will be CEO at MissionWired. She previously has been president of the fundraising firm and is a Zocdoc and Advisory Board alum. She is preceded by MissionWired founder Anne Lewis, who will now be chair of the organization's board of directors.

TRANSITIONS — Victoria Gemme is now director of policy and regulatory affairs at the National Organization for Rare Disorders. She previously was assistant research director at the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy. … Natalia Berdibekov-Li is now head of U.S. policy at Galaxy Digital. She previously was at the Treasury Department’s Office of Consumer Policy. … Jason Thompson is now president and CFO of The Nuclear Company. He previously was CFO at Redwood Materials.

… Jeff Billman is now a SVP at AxAdvocacy. He previously was chief of staff for Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas). … Blake Kernen is now press secretary for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). She previously was press secretary for Larry Hogan’s Senate campaign and is a Steve Daines and House Budget Committee alum. … House Financial Services Committee GOP is adding Dan Schneider as comms director and Brooke Nethercott as deputy comms director. Schneider previously was comms director at Business Roundtable Inc. Nethercott previously was comms director for HFSC Chair French Hill’s (R-Ark.) personal office.

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