'Shame on New York': Trump's harsh response in court during his sentencing

The audiotape of Donald Trump's sentencing hearing in New York City was released Friday, thus revealing the president-elect's harsh criticism of Judge Juan Merchan and Manhattan prosecutors.

"This has been a very terrible experience," Trump said, who attended the hearing virtually. "I think it's been a tremendous setback for New York and the New York court system."

"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. And a gentleman from a law firm came in and acted as a district attorney," the president-elect continued. "And that gentleman, from what I heard, was a criminal or almost criminal in what he did. It was very inappropriate. It was somebody involved with my political opponent."

"I think it's an embarrassment to New York and New York has a lot of problems, but this is a great embarrassment," the president-elect stated.

During the hearing, Trump was ultimately sentenced to unconditional discharge.

In another part of the hearing, Trump looked at Judge Merchan and referred to the November election, asserting that Americans rejected the controversial case at the polls.

"It's been a political witch hunt," Trump said. "It was done to damage my reputation so that I'd lose the election. And obviously, that didn't work. And the people of our country got to see this firsthand because they watched the case in your courtroom. They got to see this firsthand. And then they voted, and I won."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Steinglass responded to Trump's claims, asserting that the president-elect was convicted on sufficient evidence and that his comments are creating a deep distrust of the U.S. judicial system.

"He has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm's way," Steinglass said of Trump's comments during the trial.

Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, also responded to Steinglass' accusation.

"I very, very much disagree with much of what the government just said about this case, about the legitimacy of what happened in this courtroom during the trial and about President Trump's conduct fighting this case from before it was indicted, while it was indicted, to the jury's verdict, and even to this day."