The twelve members of the jury in the first criminal trial against the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, have found the tycoon guilty of 34 charges for alleged falsification of business records within a plot in which he would have tried to hide the payment of $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence. The 77-year-old Republican thus becomes the first former president in US history to be convicted in a criminal trial.
The jury, which had been asked to review several parts of the testimony and listen to the judge’s instructions again, deliberated for more than nine hours in two days to reach this conclusion, as reported by NBC News.
The investigation was initiated by the office of the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, following an alleged plan by the mogul to bury in the media several sexual scandals during the campaign for the 2016 presidential elections.
According to prosecutors, Trump’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who was also vice president of the Trump Organization, arranged the payment by facilitating said amount from his own pocket, and the former president reimbursed him hidden in various legal expenses within the company’s records..
The tycoon was charged in the bribery case in March 2023. The former president also faces a federal case against him for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, in which the current president, Joe Biden, won.
The tycoon declares himself a “political prisoner” and asks his supporters for donations.
After hearing the jury’s decision, Donald Trump has declared himself a “political prisoner” while asking his supporters for donations for the electoral campaign ahead of the presidential elections, which will be held in November. “Breaking news: I am a political prisoner” can be read on the fundraising page to which the tycoon’s campaign team redirects. On this website, there is a poster in which he states that he has just “been convicted in a politically rigged witch hunt trial.” “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he says. They searched my house, arrested me, and took a mugshot of me. And now they just condemned me. Corrupt Joe Biden needs to get the message, here and now, that his chances of a second term end today. For it to happen, our immediate response must be so massive that it will go down in history,” he said.
The Republican Party has requested that “ten million pro-Trump patriots contribute” and say that they support him. In this dark moment in history, I humbly ask you to please support me now. Next, we will take back the White House and make America great again (MAGA, Make America Great Again, in English).
In addition, a message appears indicating that “no matter how many lies and attacks” are directed at him, Trump “will never surrender” his “great country to the tyranny of the left.” “Democrats will spend billions of dollars to try to stop our movement, and we count on your support to finish what we started,” he said.
Thus, he has asked for donations to “dismantle the deep state, recover the White House, and save the United States in 2024.” “Please consider completing your contribution today,” reads the sign that can be accessed after being inactive for about an hour.
Appeal of the verdict
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, announced in an interview with CNN that the legal team was prepared for a conviction and that they would file motions in the coming weeks. “If we are not successful with that, then we will appeal as soon as possible,” he said, as the ruling will be published on July 11.
Blanche has explained that they will argue that the jury was biased against Trump and that the trial timing was unfair. “We think that because of everything that happened in the lead-up to this trial, it was very difficult for the jury to independently evaluate the evidence because of what they knew was going to happen,” she said.
Similarly, he explained that the former president wanted to testify, but that, in the end, he did not speak out because he trusted his legal team. He wanted his story to be made public. Ultimately, it was his decision, and he listened to us and trusted our lawyers. The decision came that he thought was correct, with which I very much agree,” he said.
Trump, who, upon leaving the room, stated that “the true verdict will be on November 5 by the people,” announced that he will hold a press conference today after being found guilty of 34 charges of falsifying records. commercials within a plot in which he would have tried to hide the payment of $130,000 to former porn actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence.
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Biden’s reaction
For his part, after hearing the sentence, Joe Biden wrote that there is only one way to keep Trump out of the White House, and that is to go to the polls on November 5. “There is only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the polls,” he noted in a message through the social network X, in which he asked for donations for his campaign.
Biden had not commented directly on the verdict against Trump, leaving the political response to his campaign team, which considered that the New York jury’s verdict shows that “no one is above the law.” In a statement, the campaign’s Communications Director, Michael Tyler, said that Trump had “wrongly believed” that he would not face consequences for “violating the law for his personal benefit,” but reality showed that this is not the case. . The Biden campaign insisted that the verdict does not change the fact that the American public faces an important decision at the polls in November, and stressed that the “only way” to prevent Trump from returning to the White House is by voting. “Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican candidate for president,” the campaign stressed. In another statement, the White House also briefly commented on the decision: “We respect the rule of law and have no additional comment,” a spokesperson said.
