Trump convicted in criminal trial in middle of presidential campaign
A New York jury on Thursday found former US President Donald Trump guilty of concealing payments to a porn star, an earthquake for his presidential campaign five months before the election in which he seeks to regain the White House.
The historic first criminal trial of a former US president ended with Trump, 77, found liable on 34 counts of falsifying accounting documents to hide a payment intended to silence adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
The Republican, who was released without bail after the hearing, could be sentenced to four years behind bars on each count, but is more likely to receive probation.
Still, Trump is not precluded from continuing his battle to unseat President Joe Biden in the election rematch, even in the unlikely event he goes to jail.
His lawyer, Todd Blanche, said his team was preparing an appeal ‘as soon’ as possible.
Trump himself was defiant. ‘I'm a very innocent man,’ he told reporters, vowing that the ‘real verdict’ would come from the voters on November 5, election day. He called the trial ‘rigged’ and considered it a ‘disgrace’.
The ruling puts the United States in uncharted political territory, with the ruling set to be handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan Merchan on July 11, days before the Republican National Convention at which Trump will receive the party's formal nomination.
Biden's campaign issued a statement in which it said the ruling against Trump shows that ‘no one is above the law’ and that it would be at the ballot box where it would be possible to ‘keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office’.
In a statement, the White House reacted by saying it respects the ‘rule of law’ and has ‘no further comment’.
The jury's decision
The 12-member jury deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days after a five-week trial at the Manhattan courthouse.
Merchan, whom the former president called ‘corrupt’ throughout the trial and even on Thursday morning, thanked the jurors for giving the case ‘the attention it deserved’.
The identities of the 12 members of the panel, seven men and five women, were kept secret to protect them from political tensions.
Shortly before announcing a verdict, the jurors retired from the courtroom to deliberate behind closed doors and asked to review the testimony of key witnesses in the case, the former head of a tabloid close to Trump, David Pecker, and the former president's personal lawyer and confidant, who is now the lead prosecutor in the case, Michael Cohen.
Their testimonies refer in particular to a meeting they held with Trump in August 2015 at Trump Tower in New York, where they allegedly devised a plan to avoid any potential scandal involving the future White House candidate, even if it involved paying in exchange for silence.
‘An important day’
Trump was found guilty of falsifying accounting records to reimburse Cohen for a 130,000-dollar payment to Daniels prior to the 2016 election, with which he sought to cover up an eventual sex scandal that could have severely affected his campaign.
Prosecutors successfully exposed that the illegal cover-up of the payment was part of a broader crime to prevent voters from learning about Trump's behaviour.
Cohen, who was a key witness for this, called the verdict ‘an important day for accountability and the rule of law’.
Trump has denied any sexual encounters with Daniels, but did not testify in his own defence.
Campaigning from the sidelines
Trump, forced to attend all hearings, had used his appearances to broadcast his claim that the trial is a Democratic ploy to keep him off the campaign trail.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, his campaign launched a fundraising appeal, entitled ‘I am a political prisoner!
Keith Gaddie, a political analyst and professor at Texas Christian University, said the political impact of the shocking developments is yet to be determined.
In addition to the New York trial, Trump has been charged in Washington and Georgia with conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results.
He also faces charges in Florida for taking huge amounts of classified documents after leaving the White House.
