To buy the silence of a porn star who alleged that they had a sexual tryst with former US president Donald Trump, in this case a Manhattan jury found him guilty and convicted.
Donald Trump, who is in the middle of a campaign to reclaim the White House, has become the first former President to be convicted of crimes. The verdict came on Thursday from a jury of 12 ordinary citizens (seven men and five women) who convicted Trump on 34 criminal charges relating to hush money paid before the 2016 election.
In a historic verdict that could impact the presidential elections with reverberations around the world. This verdict marks a historic moment as Trump becomes the first president in US history to be convicted of a felony.
Prosecutors levelled accusations against Trump, alleging his involvement in an illegal conspiracy aimed at undermining the integrity of the 2016 election and suppressing negative information. Central to the case was the concealment of a hush money payment made to an adult film star.
Following the jury’s decision, Trump vehemently denounced the trial, labelling it a “disgrace” and decrying it as “rigged.”
“We didn’t do a thing wrong. I’m a very innocent man,” Trump asserted, expressing his dissatisfaction after leaving the courtroom. Despite the guilty verdict, Trump maintained his innocence, positioning the upcoming general election as the true measure of public opinion on the matter. “The real verdict is going to be on November 5 by the people,” he declared.
Trump also directed criticism towards the Manhattan District Attorney and the Biden administration, baselessly claiming their influence over the case.
In a separate statement, Trump’s legal team vowed to challenge the verdict, but Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s motion for an acquittal and scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 11.
The trial centred on allegations surrounding a hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels. The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in connection with this scheme, encompassing 34 felony counts.
Before the jury began deliberations, both the defence and prosecution delivered closing arguments, presenting contrasting narratives regarding the payment to Daniels and subsequent reimbursements to Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen. The credibility of Cohen emerged as a focal point during the trial.
Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, launched a vigorous attack on Cohen’s credibility, likening him to a prolific liar. Blanche sought to discredit Cohen’s testimony, particularly regarding a phone call with Trump on October 24, 2016. He argued that Cohen’s history of deception rendered his claims unreliable.
Trump said, “This was a disgrace
Leaving the court, Trump said, “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt.” “This is long from over,” he added. Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over the case, set the sentencing for July 11, just four days before the Republican Party Convention that is expected to formally declare him its candidate for President as he has won an overwhelming majority of the delegates in the primaries, the intra-party elections.
Trump said the real verdict will be in November when the presidential elections are held. A poll sponsored by the government-subsidised Public Broadcasting Service showed that 67 per cent of voters said his conviction would not influence their vote; among independents, it was 74 per cent. Trump is evenly matched in polls with President Joe Biden, with less than 1 per cent lead in the aggregation of polls by RealClear Politics and even a small percentage of voters switching away from him could sway the outcome. Biden campaign’s Spokesperson Michael Tyler said, “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box.
Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.” Trump for now carries the taint of criminal conviction, a boon for Biden’s campaign.
Shameful Day for Americans
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, a Republican, said, “Today is a shameful day in American history.” He said, “The weaponisation of our justice system has been a hallmark of the Biden Administration, and the decision today is further evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents.” In New York, the local prosecutors are elected in partisan elections and Alvin Bragg won as a Democrat with the indirect backing of groups linked to the controversial international political financier George Soros. Bragg’s predecessor and federal prosecutors had declined to prosecute Trump on business records falsification charges. This court victory puts a national spotlight on the local prosecutor, who has come for criticism for being lenient towards violent criminals. Falsifying business record is a non-criminal minor offence, a misdemeanour, but Bragg raised it to a criminal offence by asserting that it was a “conspiracy” to promote another crime, election interference. Even though Trump was not charged with it, Bragg maintained that buying Stormy Daniels’ silence amounted to election interference because it suppressed a scandal that could have adversely affected him at the polls. High drama that included salacious tidbits punctuated the trial. Stormy Daniels, the porn star, testified on the witness stand about the sexual position they allegedly adopted. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Cohen, the prosecution’s star witness after falling out with Trump, said in court that he stole $30,000 from Trump and admitted to having lied under oath. Trump’s lawyers hammered these admissions to the jury to dent his credibility, but apparently they were not swayed. Trump made personal allegations against Merchan, his family and witnesses prompting the judge to impose fines and to threaten him with jail if he continued the attacks. Undeterred, Trump continued the attacks. If Trump gets a prison sentence and is denied bail and ordered to prison there will be the unusual scenario of Secret Service agents accompanying him there as by law he has to have their protection. Of the other cases, the one accusing him of conspiring to change the election results in Georgia is caught up in a controversy over the prosecutor having an affair with one of the lawyers she hired with a payment of $650,000 to help prosecute the case even though he did not have experience in the matter. The federal case in Washington is centered on the riots when his supporters invaded the Capitol in January 2021 and he is charged with trying to prevent Congress from certifying the election of President Joe Biden. That case is held up while the Supreme Court considers an appeal from Trump that he has presidential immunity from those charges. (Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis) –IANS arul/khz