President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced Friday in his , but the judge declined to impose any punishment, an outcome that cements his conviction while freeing him to return to the White House unencumbered by the threat of a jail term or a fine.

The punishment-free judgement marks a quiet end to an extraordinary case that for the first time put a former president and major presidential candidate in a courtroom as a criminal defendant. The case was the only one of four criminal indictments that has gone to trial and possibly the only one that ever will.

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan could have sentenced the 78-year-old Republican to up to four years in prison. Instead, he chose a sentence that sidestepped thorny constitutional issues by effectively ending the case but assured that Trump will become the first person convicted of a felony to assume the presidency.

Unlike his trial last year, when Trump brought allies to the courthouse and addressed waiting reporters outside the courthouse, the former president did not appear in person Friday, instead making a brief virtual appearance from his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Trump, wearing a dark suit and seated next to one of his lawyers with an American flag in the background, appeared on a video screen as he again insisted he did not commit a crime.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I would lose the election, and obviously, that didn鈥檛 work,鈥� Trump said.

Trump called the case 鈥渁 weaponization of government鈥� and 鈥渁n embarrassment to New York.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that , put on and convicted by a jury on every count. Yet, the legal detour 鈥� and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations 鈥� didn鈥檛 hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.

Merchan said that like when facing any other defendant, he must consider any aggravating factors before imposing a sentence, but the legal protection that Trump will have as president 鈥渋s a factor that overrides all others.鈥�

鈥淒espite the extraordinary breadth of those legal protections, one power they do not provide is that they do not erase a jury verdict,鈥� Merchan said.

Trump, briefly addressing the court by video, said his criminal trial and conviction have 鈥渂een a very terrible experience鈥� and insisted he committed no crime.

Before Friday鈥檚 hearing, Merchan had , called an unconditional discharge, which meant no jail time, no probation and no fines would be imposed.

Prosecutors said Friday that they supported a no-penalty sentence, but they chided Trump鈥檚 attacks on the legal system throughout and after the case.

鈥淭he once and future President of the United States has engaged in a coordinated campaign to undermine its legitimacy,鈥� prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Rather than show remorse, Trump has 鈥渂red disdain鈥� for the jury verdict and the criminal justice system, Steinglass said, and his calls for retaliation against those involved in the case, including calling for the judge to be disbarred, 鈥渉as caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has put officers of the court in harm鈥檚 way.鈥�

As he appeared from his Mar-a-Lago home, the former president was seated with his lawyer Todd Blanche, whom he鈥檚 tapped to serve as the second-highest ranking Justice Department official in his incoming administration.

鈥淭he American voters got a chance to see and decide for themselves whether this was the kind of case that should鈥檝e been brought. And they decided,鈥� Blanche said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why in 10 days President Trump is going to assume the office of the president of the United States.鈥�

Before the hearing, a handful of Trump supporters and critics gathered outside. One group held a banner that read, 鈥淭rump is guilty.鈥� The other held one that said, 鈥淪top partisan conspiracy鈥� and 鈥淪top political witch hunt.鈥�

The hush money case to veil a $130,000 payoff to porn actor Stormy Daniels. She was paid, late in Trump鈥檚 2016 campaign, not to tell the public about a sexual encounter the two had a decade earlier. He says nothing sexual happened between them, and he contends that his political adversaries spun up a bogus prosecution to try to damage him.

鈥淚 never falsified business records. It is a fake, made up charge,鈥� the Republican president-elect wrote on his Truth Social platform last week. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office brought the charges, is a Democrat.

Bragg鈥檚 office said in a court filing Monday that Trump committed 鈥渟erious offenses that caused extensive harm to the sanctity of the electoral process and to the integrity of New York鈥檚 financial marketplace.鈥�

While the specific charges were about checks and ledgers, the underlying accusations were seamy and deeply entangled with Trump鈥檚 political rise. Prosecutors said Daniels was paid off 鈥� at the time, Michael Cohen 鈥� as part of to keep voters from hearing about Trump鈥檚 alleged extramarital escapades.

Trump denies the alleged encounters occurred. His lawyers said he wanted to squelch the stories to protect his family, not his campaign. And while prosecutors said Cohen鈥檚 reimbursements for paying Daniels were deceptively logged as legal expenses, Trump says that鈥檚 simply what they were.

鈥淭here was nothing else it could have been called,鈥� he wrote on Truth Social last week, adding, 鈥淚 was hiding nothing.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 lawyers tried unsuccessfully to forestall a trial. Since his May conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records, they have pulled virtually every legal lever within reach to try to get the conviction overturned, the case dismissed or at least the sentencing postponed.

The Trump attorneys have leaned heavily into assertions of presidential immunity from prosecution, and they got a boost in July from that affords former commanders-in-chief considerable immunity.

Trump was a private citizen and presidential candidate when Daniels was paid in 2016. He was president when the reimbursements to Cohen were made and recorded the following year.

Merchan, a Democrat, repeatedly postponed the sentencing, initially set for July. But last week, he , citing a need for 鈥渇inality.鈥� He wrote that he strove to balance Trump鈥檚 need to govern, the Supreme Court鈥檚 immunity ruling, the respect due a jury verdict and the public鈥檚 expectation that 鈥渘o one is above the law.鈥�

Trump鈥檚 lawyers then launched a flurry of last-minute efforts to block the sentencing. Their last hope vanished Thursday night with a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that declined to delay the sentencing.

Meanwhile, the other criminal cases that once loomed over Trump have ended or stalled ahead of trial.

After Trump鈥檚 election, special counsel Jack Smith over Trump鈥檚 handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. A state-level is locked in uncertainty after from it.

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Michael R. Sisak, Jennifer Peltz, Jake Offenhartz And Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press