Mary Trump, the estranged niece of President-elect Donald Trump, highlighted Judge Juan Merchan’s “dig” at her uncle during his sentencing in his New York hush money case on Friday.
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s transition team via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Mary Trump, a psychologist and media personality, has long been a staunch public critic of her uncle, issuing often dire warnings about the risk he poses to the government and the country. Through her podcast, books, Substack and mainstream media appearances, she has built much of her personal brand around opposition to the president-elect and his political movement.
Her recent remarks follow Trump’s Friday sentencing in which he is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and sentenced. His sentencing hearing, in which Manhattan-based Merchan gave him an unconditional discharge, comes less than two weeks before his inauguration on January 20.
What To Know
After a weeks-long trial last year, a New York jury in May found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels shortly before his first presidential election in 2016. Daniels alleges she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he denies. Trump has maintained his innocence, claiming the case is politically motivated.
Trump’s unconditional discharge means that he will not be punished with prison time, fines or community service. He will, however, have felonies on his criminal record, which changes some things for him moving forward.
On Friday in a Substack post titled “So, That’s That,” Mary Trump spoke about how Merchan’s tone during Friday’s sentencing was “matter-of-fact” as he laid out the context of Trump’s sentencing including the legal protections the president-elect has been afforded such as the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last summer on presidential immunity.
In July, the Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that former presidents have immunity for official acts conducted while in office, but not for unofficial acts. The ruling was related to an argument by Trump in the federal election interference case against him.
“In his only obvious dig—and I hope it stung—Merchan concluded that, ‘It is the legal protections afforded to the Office of the President of the United States that are extraordinary, not the occupant,'” Mary Trump wrote.
Trump appeared by video from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for the sentencing, where he addressed the court and said: “I’m totally innocent. I did nothing wrong.
Trump claimed he was the victim of a “political witch hunt.”
He added: “It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn’t work. This has been a very terrible experience. I think it has been a tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system.”
Trump won November’s election against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
Dominik Bindl/Getty Images
What People Are Saying
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass said in court on Friday that Trump’s behavior and the “enduring damage” he’d caused to the reputation of the justice system would normally result in a heavy sentence. But prosecutors had to “be respectful of the office of the presidency.”
“The American public has the right to a presidency unencumbered to pending legal matters…imposing this sentence ensures that,” he said.
Donald Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche, pushed back in response to the assistant DA’s comments in court on Friday.
“I very, very much disagree with much of what the government just said about this case, about the legitimacy of what happened in this courtroom during this trial, and about President Trump’s conduct fighting this case,” he said.
What Happens Next
While Trump has vowed to appeal within minutes of the sentencing hearing ending, he and his legal team now have 30 days to file a “notice of appeal.”
However, the full appeal process could drag on for years.
As Trump gears up to take office, he could only be pardoned by Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul, which seems unlikely. Hochul did not say whether she would consider pardoning Trump when asked in December 2024, but she said the pardon process requires several elements, including “remorse.”