Former President Donald Trump was found guilty Thursday of 34 counts of tampering with business records, becoming the first current or former president convicted on criminal charges, though it is not yet clear if he will be sentenced to prison.
Jurors found Trump guilty of all charges against him, several media outlets reported.
Trump gave the impression of being “moody” after the jury read his verdict, the New York Times reported, while CNN reported that jurors watched the ruling on the floor as the president read the verdict, without looking at the former president.
While the jury has ruled on the verdict, Judge Juan Merchán will finally pronounce Trump’s sentence, with a hearing scheduled for July 11 – four days before the start of the Republican National Convention – and it is certain that Trump will appeal the decision. which can delay the verdict, regardless of the punishment you receive.
Each of the 34 charges Trump was convicted of is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 consistent with the offense and/or up to 4 years of criminal conviction, meaning that, in theory, Trump faces up to $170,000 in fines and 136 years of criminal conviction if convicted. the maximum penalty.
Legal experts say it is highly unlikely (though not ruled out) that he will be sentenced to a criminal term as a first-time offender, although defendants are typically sentenced to a much lesser criminal term than the maximum criminal penalty, and prosecutors and Trump lawyers will ask what sentences they take into consideration before sentencing.
Jurors began deliberating Wednesday morning after nearly six weeks of testimony and arguments in the case, which centered on whether Trump would be convicted based on reimbursement checks he sent to former attorney Michael Cohen, who paid $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. To cover up allegations of an affair with Trump.
Trump called the resolution a “disgrace” in his remarks to reporters after Thursday’s verdict, denouncing the trial as “rigged” and insisting he was a “very innocent man” before returning to Trump Tower, where he waved to a crowd of supporters and protesters. getting stuck in traffic on the road, according to CNN.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has largely avoided answering questions about what Trump’s conviction would look like at a news conference Thursday, telling reporters that he would “let our words in court speak for themselves when we face the sentencing factor. “”.
Trump said on Truth Social that he plans a news conference at Trump Tower on Friday at a. m.
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“The genuine verdict will be delivered through other people on Nov. 5,” Trump told reporters after the verdict.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, indicated that the former president will appeal the verdict and defined the strategy of his legal team in an interview with CNN. Blanche said the former president’s defense team is in a position to issue a guilty verdict and will vigorously combat it” by filing motions. with Merchan and if that fails “as soon as we can appeal, we will. “Explaining the reasons for her appeal, Blanche said the timing and location of the trial were unfair and claimed the jury was not impartial. “All the users of the jury knew Donald Trump as president, as a candidate, from ‘The Apprentice’, so I don’t know. I am not satisfied that it is a fair position to judge President Trump. . . Because of everything that led up to this trial, it was very difficult for the jury to compare the evidence regardless of what they knew.
Biden’s crusade said Thursday that Trump’s conviction means “no one is above the law,” stressing that “there’s only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: through the ballot box. “it means chaos, depriving Americans of their freedoms and fomenting political violence, and other Americans will reject it in November,” the crusade’s communications director, Michael Tyler, said on aArray
The jury that made the decision on Trump’s fate was made up of 12 Manhattan residents, totaling seven men and five women. According to the questionnaires that answered the jury selection process, all the other 3 were university academics and the jury included two lawyers, in addition. as a teacher, software engineer, security engineer, physiotherapist, speech therapist, salesperson, investment banker and retiree. Managers and jurors who paint for apparel and e-commerce companies. They all said that they may be independent. In this case and most did not express strong feelings towards Trump, although two of them said they had problems with his politics or personality, but that they could still be independent.
Trump was charged in the Hush Cash case in March 2023 following a year-long investigation, marking the first time a former or sitting president was charged with crimes. The trial began in mid-April, with prosecutors calling witnesses to add Daniels, Cohen, former National Enquirer executive David Pecker, former Trump aide Hope Hicks and Daniels’ former attorney Keith Davidson. Witnesses explained the hush-money scheme to pay Daniels and others before the 2016 election, and Cohen testified that Trump was involved in the scheme and approved the payment to the adult film star. Cohen also linked Trump to the refund plan, saying the former president was introduced at a meeting in which Allen Weisselberg, then the Trump Organization’s financial leader, told Cohen that his refund checks would be classified as going to legal services. . Despite questions about Cohen’s credibility, prosecutors insisted there was enough evidence to support Cohen’s testimony that Trump knew about the secret payment of the cash to Daniels and efforts to repay Cohen, arguing closing arguments. that Trump’s “intent to defraud in this matter may simply not be justified. ” clearer. ” Array” The jury of 12 users had to determine whether there was evidence beyond a moderate doubt that Trump falsified business records by calling his checks to Cohen “legal services” and whether those records were falsified to conceal Trump’s efforts. “conspire to promote. ” or save any user’s choice to a public workplace through illegal means.
Trump’s lawyers have sought to distance the former president from the payment plans and silence, saying there is no evidence Trump knew about the cash bills or any mess with the refund checks, beyond Cohen’s testimony, which they told jurors not to believe. They also argued that those checks were well classified since Cohen was Trump’s lawyer. Trump’s lawyers tried to discredit Cohen’s testimony, questioning him for three days about his attacks on Trump (adding calling him a “cartoon villain sprinkled with cheetos”) and his history of mendacity under oath. Attorney Todd Blanche told closing jury arguments that the former lawyer is “the MVP of liars. “The defense presented only one lead witness, attorney Robert Costello, who said Cohen told him Trump didn’t know about the secret payment when it occurred, but whose testimony was overshadowed when Merchan chastised the witness for his contempt and rolled his eyes in reaction to the judge. Trump did not testify in his own defense.
When Trump’s other criminal cases go to trial. A verdict in any other case is unlikely before the November election. Trump’s federal filing for alleged mishandling of White House documents has been delayed indefinitely after the original trial date was postponed. in May, and his Georgia fees are unlikely to go to trial anytime soon, when Trump’s lawyers appeal a ruling seeking Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis. disqualification of the case. Trump’s federal case to seek to overturn the 2020 election could go to trial as soon as this fall, depending on when the Supreme Court determines whether Trump has “presidential immunity” from fees, though a ruling will most likely not be issued. until June, according to the courts. Experts say that on election day there will be no sentence.
The jury’s verdict comes after Trump was already found guilty of criminal contempt 10 times during the trial for violating a gag order that barred him from speaking to witnesses, jurors and others involved in the case. Judge Juan Merchán ordered him to pay $1,000 per crime. and warned that long-term crimes, which would not have occurred, could simply result in Trump’s imprisonment.
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