From Reuters:
“Jury finds Donald Trump
guilty on all 34 counts at hush money trial”
(Former President Donald Trump
appears in Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York.)
Donald Trump became the first
U.S. president to be convicted of a crime on Thursday when a New York jury
found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a
porn star ahead of the 2016 election. After deliberations over two days, the
12-member jury announced it had found Trump guilty on all 34 counts he faced.
Unanimity was required for any verdict. Trump watched the jurors
dispassionately as they were polled to confirm the guilty verdict.
The verdict plunges the United States into unexplored territory ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election, when Trump, the Republican candidate, will try to win the White House back from Democratic President Joe Biden. Trump, 77, has denied wrongdoing and was expected to appeal. He faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though others convicted of that crime often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation. Incarceration would not prevent him from campaigning, or taking office if he were to win. Opinion polls show Trump and Biden, 81, locked in a tight race, and Reuters/Ipsos polling has found that a guilty verdict could cost Trump some support from independent and Republican voters. The jury notified the court they had reached a verdict at 4:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) and read out all 34 guilty counts shortly after 5 p.m.
The jury found Trump guilty of
falsifying business documents after sitting through a five-week trial that
featured explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about a sexual
encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his current
wife Melania. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels. Trump's then-fixer
Michael Cohen testified that Trump approved a $130,000 hush money payment to
Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election, when he faced multiple
accusations of sexual misbehavior. Cohen testified he handled the payment, and
that Trump approved a plan to reimburse him through monthly payments disguised
as legal work. Trump's lawyers hammered Cohen's credibility, highlighting his
criminal record and imprisonment and his history of lying. Falsifying business
documents is normally a misdemeanor in New York, but prosecutors in Manhattan
District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office elevated it to a felony on grounds that
Trump was concealing an illegal campaign contribution.
Trump complained that he could
not get a fair trial in his heavily Democratic hometown. The case was widely
regarded as the least consequential of the four criminal prosecutions Trump
faces. Jurors heard testimony of sex and lies that have been public since 2018,
although the charges themselves rested on ledger accounts and other records of
Cohen's reimbursement. It was known as the "zombie case" because
Bragg brought it back to life after his predecessor opted not to bring charges.
This case was also likely to be the only one to go to trial before the
election, as the others are delayed by procedural challenges. If elected, Trump
could shut down the two federal cases that accuse him of illegally trying to
overturn his 2020 election loss and mishandling classified documents after
leaving office in 2021. He would not have the power to stop a separate
election-subversion case taking place in Georgia. Trump has pleaded not guilty
in all the cases, and has portrayed his various legal troubles as an effort by
Biden's Democratic allies to hurt him politically.
^ Trump always wanted to be known
for something and now, besides being known for his Bankruptcies he will also be
known as the First President ever to be a Convicted Criminal.
I don’t realistically see him spending
any time in jail (because he is rich) but even if he is elected President again
he will always be known as a Criminal. ^
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