President-elect Donald Trump has been officially sentenced as a convicted felon. On Friday, Judge Juan Merchan, the New York judge who presided over Trump's hush money case, sentenced him to an unconditional discharge, which allows Trump to avoid jail time so he can assume the office of the presidency. In his address to the court before the sentence, Trump said he "did nothing wrong" in the case, which involved him allegedly falsifying business records to hide the purpose of reimbursements to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged extramarital affair with Trump. Trump denies the affair occurred. And Justice Department officials revealed in a court filing Saturday that special counsel Jack Smith has officially resigned, having submitted his final report on the Trump investigations.
A series of destructive wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area have killed at least 16 people and swept through 37,000 acres, destroying entire communities and more than 12,000 structures. At least 153,000 L.A. residents were under evacuation orders Friday night. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and the reported unavailability of water from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.
On Thursday, every living president gathered at Washington National Cathedral for the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. Biden, Trump and former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were in attendance, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, former Vice President Mike Pence, Supreme Court justices, members of Congress and members of Carter's administration.
Also, the Supreme Court on Friday heard oral arguments on TikTok's bid to block a law that would lead to its ban in the U.S. starting Jan. 19 if it isn't sold by its Chinese owner. Although the justices did not appear convinced by TikTok's free speech arguments, there remains some uncertainty over how the court will handle the case.
Missed something? Don't worry. Here are our select columns and videos from the week. And don't forget to check out MSNBC.com for more.
