Donald Trump Becomes The First US President Convicted Of Crimes
Donald Trump became the first US President to be convicted in a crime. The New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment given to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. The jury pronounced the former President guilty of all 34 felony counts he faced.
Justice Juan Merchan set the sentencing date on July 11, days before the Republican Party is scheduled to formally nominate Trump for the upcoming Presidential election.
Falsifying business documents carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Those convicted often receive shorter sentences, fines or probations. The incarceration will not legally prevent Trump from campaigning or taking office if he ever wins. He will not be jailed ahead of the sentencing either.
The latest verdict has introduced Washington to territories it has not experienced before. The 77-year-old Republican candidate denied any wrongdoing and was expected to appeal. He called the verdict a “disgrace”. While talking to the reporters, he claimed that the trial has been rigged and continued to proclaim his innocence. “The real verdict is going to be on November 5th”.
In a written statement issued, Trump said that “I am a very innocent man, and it’s okay, I am fighting for our country. I am fighting for out constitution. Our whole country is being rigged right now”.
Opinion polls showed that Trump and Biden are locked in a neck-to-neck race. It is founded that the verdict could cost Trump some support among the independent and Republican votes, said media report.
The case earlier was regarded as the least consequential while comparing to the other three criminal prosecution he faces. However, the verdict now looms above his dead. It is likely to be the only one before the Presidential election. The other cases were delayed due to procedural challenges.
The verdict came after sitting through a five-week courtroom presentation that featured explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniel about a sexual encounter she claims to have had with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied the allegations.
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, testified that the Republican approved a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels during the final weeks of 2016 election. Trump faced several multiple accusations of sexual behaviour.
Cohen said that he handled the payment, and that Trump also approved a plan to repay him through monthly payments which are repaid as disguised legal work.
According to Stormy Daniels, she first met and talked with Trump in 2006 at Lake Toheo celebrity golf outing where her studio was also a sponsor. She said Trump referred to her as “the smart one” and asked if she wanted to go to dinner with him. Trump also had his bodyguard get her number, said Daniels. Allegedly, the dinner did not went as she thought it to be, as she was taken to bed by Trump. Daniels recalled that though the encounter was brief, it left her “shaking”, and she felt like she “wanted to leave”.
She said in 2011, she learned that a magazine know about the story of their encounter. She said she agreed to do an interview for $15,000 to make money and “control the narrative” of the story, but the story never ran. Prosecutors countered that Daniels’ testimony gets at what Trump was trying to hide and they were “very mindful” not to draw too much graphic detail. Before Daniels took the stand, they told the judge the testimony would be “really basic,” and would not “involve any details of genitalia”, as reported by AP.
When Trump was running for the Presidential election in 2016, Daniel authorised her manager to shop the story around but did not receive interest from any outlets. However, when the Access Hollywood, tape, in which Donald Trump bragged about grabbing women sexually without permission came out in October that year, Daniels learned that Cohen wants to buy her silence, said Daniels.
