Trump found guilty on all 34 felony counts: What’s next for the former president?
On May 30, 2024, 77-year-old Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, walked out of a Manhattan criminal courtroom a convicted felon after a jury of his peers found him guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal another crime in what has now become a historic trial that revealed the former president was making clandestine hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up their sexual tryst in an effort to keep that news from negatively impacting his 2016 run for the White House.
… Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. ~ The Associated Press
Following his guilty verdict, the stone-faced former president exited the courtroom and tried to spin the outcome of that guilty verdict, saying in part, that the judge was conflicted, he didn’t get a fair trial in liberal NYC, and that he faced a “rigged and disgraceful trial.”
“The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.” ~ Donald Trump, May 30, 2024
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Trump’s supporters are coming to his defense with his GOP political base still backing his run as the presumptive nominee in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Marco Rubio, who is reportedly in the running to be a potential Trump VP and running mate, took to Twitter to state that the trial was “conducted by an openly pro-Biden judge.” Trump supporter Senator Ted Cruz told Newsmax on Thursday that Judge Merchan “should have worn a Biden campaign hat while he sat on the bench.”
Following Trump’s landmark conviction in what has come to be known as his “hush money” trial, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg held a brief press conference Thursday evening where he expressed his gratitude to the jury and said he was just doing his job.
A jury of 12 New Yorkers found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. The verdict, handed down following a six-week trial, is historic, as it makes Trump the first former president to be convicted of a crime. ~ CBS News
Judge Juan Manuel Merchan has set a date of July 11, 2024, to sentence Trump. And to be fair, the former president will not officially become a “convicted felon” until after that sentencing.
Legal experts are predicting that although Trump has now been convicted of 34 felonies, he most likely will not be going to prison come sentencing. Trump does not have a former criminal record, the felonies are considered to be low-level ones, and his status as a former U.S. president will be taken into account. Although the charges for falsifying business records to conceal another crime do carry a max prison sentence of four years, or perhaps home-confinement, it’s generally believed that Trump would receive a much less serious punishment, like probation.
One poll on how Trump’s guilty verdict will impact the 2024 election shows that a guilty verdict will not have a huge impact on his 2024 election rematch with President Joe Biden.
- Two-thirds of registered voters said Trump’s guilty verdict would make no difference to their vote;
- Only 17% said a guilty verdict would make them less likely to vote for Trump;
- Fifteen percent said they’d be more inclined to support the former president at the ballot box;
Can Trump still vote after being found guilty of 34 felonies? In New York and Florida where the former president holds legal residences, he can still vote as long as he’s not actively serving prison time.
If Trump were to win the 2024 presidential election, could he pardon himself? Interestingly, Trump being a convicted felon would not bar him from running for president, or assuming that office if he were to win the next presidential election.
However, if he were to win, and take office next year, he would not be able to purge the conviction from his record.
Presidents can grant pardons for federal crimes, but not for state crimes such as this one, under the U.S. Constitution. Other presidents, for that matter, also would not have the power to pardon Trump for these crimes. ~ The Hill
Although Trump still maintains support from his base and the majority of the GOP following his guilty verdicts, there are those that feel justice was served yesterday, including members of his own family like Dr. Mary Trump.
Trump’s legal team will be appealing yesterday’s guilty verdict. For more on yesterday’s historic guilty verdict of Donald Trump, see the video accompanying this article.
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(Cover photo of Donald Trump in court: Image credit: CNN / Twitter)
Written by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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