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When Judge Juan Merchan sentenced former President Donald Trump this morning, he let him go with an “unconditional discharge.” But Trump issued a burning indictment of his own.

“This has been a weaponization of government – they call it lawfare — never happened to any extent like this, but never happened in our country before,” Trump said, according to audio from the sentencing. “It’s an injustice of justice.”

Trump called his show trial — in which he was convicted for labeling payments to a lawyer as legal expenses — a “very terrible experience” and a “tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system.”

Last year, a Manhattan jury convicted Trump of 34 felonies — for which the statute of limitations had passed — for allegedly paying pornographer Stormy Daniels $130,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement, as The Federalist previously reported. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who pursued the case against Trump, campaigned on suing the former president “more than a hundred times.” He got assistance from Michael Colangelo — who had a history of going after Trump in the Department of Justice and New York Attorney General’s Office. 

“This is a case that Alvin Bragg did not want to bring. He thought it was — from what I read and from what I hear — inappropriately handled before he got there,” Trump said at his sentencing. “A gentleman from a law firm came in and acted as a district attorney, and that gentleman, from what I heard, was criminal or almost criminal, in what he did. It was very inappropriate.”

Trump faced months of lawfare for his accountants “calling a legal expense, in the books where everybody could see them, a legal expense,” he said. 

“For this, I got indicted. It’s incredible actually,” Trump said. “I’m totally innocent, I did nothing wrong.”

Trump said vital evidence from other jurisdictions was not admitted, an inadmissible witness was admitted, he was not allowed “lawyer-client privilege or the reliance on counsel,” and he was put under a gag order.

“I’m the first president in history that was under a gag order where I couldn’t talk about aspects of the case that are very important,” Trump said. “I assume I’m still under a gag order.”

Trump said leftists pursued him in court to “damage my reputation so that I’d lose the election,” he said. He also said the DOJ was “very involved” in the case, even pointing out an individual in court. 

“The DOJ was very much involved in this case, that’s because that’s the political opponent they’re talking about,” Trump said. “You have a gentleman sitting right there from the DOJ. … He went around and did what he had to do — he got them to move on me. But in the meantime, I won the election in a massive landslide, and the people of this country understand what’s gone on.”

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.