President-elect Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge on Friday after being found guilty on charges of falsifying business records stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s yearslong investigation. 

The president-elect attended his sentencing virtually after fighting to block the process all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. Trump sat beside his defense attorney Todd Blanche. 

TRUMP FILES MOTION TO STAY ‘UNLAWFUL SENTENCING’ IN NEW YORK CASE

Judge Juan Merchan did not sentence the president-elect to prison, and instead sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, meaning there is no punishment imposed: no jail time, fines or probation. The sentence also preserves Trump's ability to appeal the conviction. 

"After careful analysis, this court determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction is an unconditional discharge," Merchan said Friday. "At this time, I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts." 

Merchan added, "Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office."

Before Judge Merchan announced the sentence, Trump called the case a "tremendous setback for the American court system." 

"This is a great embarrassment to the state of New York," Trump said, adding that the people saw the trial firsthand, and voted "decisively" to elect him as president. 

Trump said the Justice Department was "very involved" and stressed that a case like this against a former president, candidate and now president-elect has "never happened in our country before." 

"And I would just like to explain that I was treated very, very unfairly. And I thank you very much," Trump said Friday. 

Merchan set Jan. 10 for the sentencing, just 10 days before Trump is set to be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. 

Merchan, upon scheduling the sentencing last week, said that he was not likely to "impose any sentence of incarceration," but rather a sentence of an "unconditional discharge." 

During Friday's sentencing hearing, Merchan said he took the "unusual step" of informing Trump of his sentence prior to the proceeding. 

"The imposition of sentence is one of the most difficult decisions that any criminal court judge is called to make," Merchan said, noting the court "must consider the facts of the case along with any aggravating or mitigating circumstances."

Merchan reflected on the case, saying that "never before has this court been presented with such a unique set of circumstances." The judge said it was an "extraordinary case" with media interest and heightened security but said that once the courtroom doors were closed, the trial itself "was not any more unique or extraordinary" than any other case.

Trump filed an appeal to block sentencing from moving forward with the New York State Court of Appeals. That court rejected his request. 

Trump also filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that it "immediately order a stay of pending criminal proceedings in the Supreme Court of New York County, New York." 

The high court denied the request, saying "the application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons." 

TRUMP SAYS HE RESPECTS SUPREME COURT'S DECISION TO DENY HIS REQUEST TO STOP SENTENCING, VOWS TO APPEAL

"First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal," the Supreme Court's order, filed Thursday night, stated. "Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of 'unconditional discharge' after a brief virtual hearing." 

The order also noted that "Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would grant the application." 

Trump needed five votes in order to have his request granted. The note on the order suggests Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett voted with Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Katanji Brown Jackson. 

Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20. 

Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and repeatedly railed against it as an example of "lawfare" promoted by Democrats in an effort to hurt his election efforts ahead of November. 

Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Michael Pierce intercepted the first pass of his NFL career Saturday to close out a division-sealing victory against the Cleveland Browns. 

Pierce came up with the big pick with the Browns' offense in the red zone and with the Ravens up 35-10.

Pierce dropped into coverage, put his 355-pound body in front of a pass from Browns quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and brought it in. He stumbled a bit with the ball before rolling down to end the play, allowing his offense to run the clock out. 

The Ravens celebrated their second straight NFC North title when it was over. 

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The Ravens (12-5) will open the playoffs at home against either the Los Angeles Chargers or Pittsburgh Steelers. Baltimore was two games behind the Steelers in the division before winning its final four to finish on top.

Cleveland (3-14) ended a dreadful season with six straight losses. Both Bailey Zappe and Thompson-Robinson took snaps at quarterback in the finale. Neither could move the ball much, and Zappe had a pass returned 26 yards for a touchdown by rookie Nate Wiggins for the game’s first points.

SAQUON BARKLEY AND FAMILY REACT TO EAGLES SITTING HIM WITH CHANCE TO BREAK NFL RUSHING RECORD

The biggest concern coming out of this game for the Ravens was the health of Pro Bowl receiver Zay Flowers, who left in the second quarter with a right knee injury.

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson threw touchdown passes to Mark Andrews in the second quarter and Rashod Bateman in the third, finishing a spectacular season that might earn him a third MVP award. 

Jackson finished the season with 4,172 yards passing, 41 touchdown passes and only four interceptions. He became the first quarterback to reach 4,000 yards passing with 40 TD passes and four or fewer interceptions.

Jackson finished the season with 915 yards rushing, becoming the first to throw for 4,000 yards and rush for at least 800. His passer rating of 119.6 wasn’t quite enough to break the single-season record of 122.5 held by Aaron Rodgers.

Zappe threw for 170 yards with two interceptions. His 16-yard scoring pass to Jordan Akins made it 21-10 in the fourth, but the Ravens answered with a 70-yard drive that ended in a 2-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry.

Henry, who turned 31 Saturday, added a 43-yard scoring run late in the fourth. He finished the season with 1,921 yards rushing and a franchise-record 16 rushing touchdowns.

Cleveland has now gone 28 consecutive games without allowing a 300-yard passer. Jackson finished 16 of 32 for 217 yards.

The Associates Press contributed to this report.

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• American Airlines will launch new longer-haul routes from LaGuardia. They'll only fly once weekly.
• LaGuardia's new routes are doable thanks to the "perimeter rule" being waived on Saturdays.
• American and other airlines also use perimeter rule exemptions in Washington, DC.

American Airlines will use a special rule exception to fly longer-than-normal routes out of New York's LaGuardia Airport next year.

An airline spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider on Monday that American will launch new flights to Bozeman and Kalispell in Montana and Calgary in Canada in June 2025 to target leisure travelers.

There is one caveat: The routes will only operate on Saturdays.

This is because, to manage airport capacity, LaGuardia allows flights of only 1,500 miles or fewer from Sunday through Friday. This is known as a "perimeter rule." Longer flights and bigger jets are primarily pushed to the nearby Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy airports.

However, the rule is waived for flights to Denver at all times and for flights operated to all other places on Saturdays. The latter exception gave American the leeway it needed to fly the new Saturday routes to Montana and Canada.

LaGurdia's slot restriction is also waived on Saturdays, meaning American won't need special takeoff and landing permissions for the routes. Cirium data shows all three flights will use a Boeing 737 Max and trek about 2,000 miles.

Operating Saturday-only flights to avoid the perimeter rule at LaGuardia is not new, though airlines have struggled to fill planes because Saturdays are lower-demand days.

Delta Air Lines, for example, cut two Saturday cross-country flights from LaGuardia to Los Angeles and Phoenix in January.

American also uses perimeter exemptions in the US capital

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, DC, is the only other US airport with a mandated perimeter rule. The restrictions at both airports were established in the 1980s.

Reagan's routes are limited to 1,250 miles. Dulles International Airport, about 30 miles away, gets longer flights.

However, over the past two decades, Congress has increased daily slot allowances to allow for more flights beyond the perimeter on Sunday through Friday.

American and other airlines have taken advantage of the exemptions. Cirium shows American already flies daily to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines also use exemptions to fly daily from Reagan to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Denver, and Seattle.

The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill, signed in May, approved 10 additional slots that could operate within or beyond Reagan's perimeter. That equates to five more roundtrip flights.

American was awarded one of the slots on Friday, a daily roundtrip to San Antonio starting in March. It will be the only airline operating the flight.

Meanwhile, Delta was awarded a slot pair to Seattle, Alaska was given one to San Diego, Southwest will use one to serve Las Vegas, and United received approval to San Francisco — which will be the airline's second daily flight to the California city.

There is debate over keeping the perimeter rule at Reagan and LaGuardia.

Some advocates say it reduces noise and airport congestion and ensures airlines don't shift slots to abandon regional routes within the perimeter. A near-miss at Reagan in May also sparked concern that more flights could impact runway safety.

Opponents of the rule say it restricts airline networks, gives travelers less choice, raises airfares, and limits economic growth. For lawmakers, eliminating the rule at Reagan would mean more convenient flights into DC from their home states.