Everything you should know about Donald Trump's conviction in his hush money trial
Donald Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s conviction on 34 felony counts marks the end of the former president바카라 게임 웹사이트s historic hush money trial, but the fight over the case is far from over.
Now comes the sentencing and the potential for a prison sentence. A lengthy appellate process. And all the while, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still has to deal with three more criminal cases and a campaign that could see him return to the White House.
After more than nine hours of deliberations over two days, the Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in the case stemming from a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump angrily denounced the trial as a 바카라 게임 웹사이트disgrace,바카라 게임 웹사이트 telling reporters he바카라 게임 웹사이트s an 바카라 게임 웹사이트innocent man.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Some key takeaways from the jury바카라 게임 웹사이트s decision:
PRISON TIME?
The big question now is whether Trump could go to prison. The answer is uncertain. Judge Juan M. Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before Republicans are formally set to nominate Trump for president.
The charge of falsifying business records is a Class E felony in New York, the lowest tier of felony charges in the state. It is punishable by up to four years in prison, though the punishment would ultimately be up to the judge, and there바카라 게임 웹사이트s no guarantee he would give Trump time behind bars. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether prosecutors would seek prison time.
It바카라 게임 웹사이트s unclear to what extent the judge may factor in the political and logistical complexities of jailing a former president who is running to reclaim the White House. Other punishments could include a fine or probation. And it바카라 게임 웹사이트s possible the judge would allow Trump to avoid serving any punishment until after he exhausts his appeals.
Trump faces the threat of more serious prison time in the three other cases he바카라 게임 웹사이트s facing, but those cases have gotten bogged down by appeals and other legal fights, so it remains unclear whether any of them will go to trial before the November election.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE ELECTION
The conviction doesn바카라 게임 웹사이트t bar Trump from continuing his campaign or becoming president. And he can still vote for himself in his home state of Florida as long as he stays out of prison in New York state.
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said in a Fox 온라인 바카라 게임 Channel interview on Thursday that Trump would do virtual rallies and campaign events if he바카라 게임 웹사이트s convicted and sentenced to home confinement.
In a deeply divided America, it바카라 게임 웹사이트s unclear whether Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s once-unimaginable criminal conviction will have any impact at all on the election.
Leading strategists in both parties believe that Trump still remains well-positioned to defeat President Joe Biden, even as the Republican now faces the prospect of a prison sentence and three separate criminal cases still outstanding.
In the short term, at least, there were immediate signs that the guilty verdict was helping to unify the Republican Party바카라 게임 웹사이트s disparate factions as GOP officials across the political spectrum rallied behind their embattled presumptive presidential nominee and his campaign reported a flood of fundraising dollars within hours of the verdict.
There has been some polling conducted on the prospect of a guilty verdict, although such hypothetical scenarios are notoriously difficult to predict. A recent found that only 4% of Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s supporters said they would withdraw their backing if he바카라 게임 웹사이트s convicted of a felony, though another 16% said they would reconsider it.
AVENUES FOR APPEAL
After Trump is sentenced, he can challenge his conviction in a New York appellate court and possibly the state바카라 게임 웹사이트s highest court. Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers have already been laying the groundwork for appeals with objections to the charges and rulings at trial.
The defense has accused the judge of bias, citing his daughter바카라 게임 웹사이트s work heading a firm whose clients have included Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats. The judge refused the defense바카라 게임 웹사이트s request to remove himself from the case, saying he was certain of his 바카라 게임 웹사이트ability to be fair and impartial.바카라 게임 웹사이트
Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers may also raise on appeal the judge바카라 게임 웹사이트s ruling limiting the testimony of a potential defense expert witness. The defense wanted to call Bradley Smith, who served on the Federal Election Commission, to rebut the prosecution바카라 게임 웹사이트s contention that the hush money payments amounted to campaign finance violations.
But the defense ended up not having him testify after the judge ruled he could give general background on the FEC but couldn바카라 게임 웹사이트t interpret how federal campaign finance laws apply to the facts of Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s case or opine on whether Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s alleged actions violate those laws. There are often guardrails around expert testimony on legal matters, on the basis that it바카라 게임 웹사이트s up to a judge 바카라 게임 웹사이트 not an expert hired by one side or the other 바카라 게임 웹사이트 to instruct jurors on applicable laws.
The defense may also argue that jurors were improperly allowed to hear sometimes graphic testimony from Daniels about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, which he denies ever happened. The defense unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial over the tawdry details prosecutors elicited from Daniels. Defense lawyer Todd Blanche argued Daniels바카라 게임 웹사이트 description of a power imbalance with the older, taller Trump, was a 바카라 게임 웹사이트dog whistle for rape,바카라 게임 웹사이트 irrelevant to the charges at hand, and 바카라 게임 웹사이트the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from.바카라 게임 웹사이트
A DEFENSE THAT CENTERED ON CREDIBILITY
The verdict shows the jury wasn바카라 게임 웹사이트t persuaded by Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s defense, which hinged on assailing the credibility of some key witnesses 바카라 게임 웹사이트 especially Michael Cohen, the Trump attorney-turned-adversary who directly implicated Trump in the hush money scheme.
As in many criminal cases, Trump바카라 게임 웹사이트s lawyers tried to make a lot of their points while questioning prosecution witnesses. The defense called just two witnesses of its own, including Robert Costello, a defense attorney who had sought to represent Cohen after the latter came under federal investigation due to his work for Trump.
The move may have backfired because it opened the door for prosecutors to question Costello about a purported pressure campaign aimed at keeping Cohen loyal to Trump after the FBI raided Cohen바카라 게임 웹사이트s property in April 2018.
Costello buoyed the defense by testifying that Cohen denied to him that Trump knew anything about the $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels.
But prosecutors portrayed Costello as a 바카라 게임 웹사이트double agent바카라 게임 웹사이트 whose agenda was really to keep Cohen from turning on Trump and confronted him with emails he sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly dangled his close ties to Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. In one email, Costello told Cohen: 바카라 게임 웹사이트Sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places바카라 게임 웹사이트 and relayed that there were 바카라 게임 웹사이트some very positive comments about you from the White House.바카라 게임 웹사이트
The pugnacious Costello annoyed the judge 바카라 게임 웹사이트 at times in view of the jury 바카라 게임 웹사이트 by continuing to speak after objections and rolling his eyes. At one point, after sending the jury out of the room, the judge became enraged when he said Costello was staring him down. Merchan then briefly cleared the courtroom of reporters and scolded Costello, warning that if he acted out again, he바카라 게임 웹사이트d be removed from the courtroom.
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK FOR A LOSS
While projecting confidence, Trump and his campaign also spent weeks trying to undermine the case ahead of a potential conviction. He repeatedly called the whole system 바카라 게임 웹사이트rigged바카라 게임 웹사이트 바카라 게임 웹사이트 a term he also used in false descriptions of the election he lost to Biden in 2020.
바카라 게임 웹사이트Mother Teresa could not beat these charges,바카라 게임 웹사이트 Trump said Wednesday, invoking the Catholic nun and saint.
Trump has lambasted the judge and complained about members of the prosecution team as he tried to paint the case as nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt brought by Bragg, a Democrat.
He has also complained about a gag order that restricted him from speaking about some people involved in the case. Instead of testifying in the case 바카라 게임 웹사이트 and subjecting himself to cross-examination 바카라 게임 웹사이트 Trump has focused on the court of public opinion and the voters who will ultimately decide his fate.