The rare and lenient sentence, which will spare President-elect Donald J. Trump jail time, was used to address his unusual status.

The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money case on Friday sentenced the president-elect to an “unconditional discharge,” meaning he is now a convicted felon in the eyes of New York state law but will face no further penalties.

Donald Trump received a sentence Friday of "unconditional discharge" as punishment for his felony convictions in the state of New York. According to New York state law, unconditional discharge is a sentence "without imprisonment, fine or probation supervision."