Trump Guilty
Jurors have reached a verdict on the charges against President Donald Trump — 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
“A great victory for the prosecution, but a monumental victory for the rule of law. Trump must be thinking: of all the things I did, this is what they got me for? The irony is that he was convicted in a gritty courtroom where he consistently complained about how cold it was, but he never had the juice or influence to even get them to turn down the air conditioning,” said Joe Hayden, legal adviser to InsiderNJ.
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-11) released the following statement after Former President Donald Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records.
“No American is above the law, including a former president. Trump has shown that his priority is to serve only himself, both financially and otherwise. The American people deserve to know the full scope of Trump’s criminal schemes and activities. While today is a sad day in our nation’s history as Donald Trump becomes the first president to be convicted of a crime, it is also a critical day for the rule of law. The former president must be held accountable for all his illegal actions, and it is paramount that we protect the judicial process and our democratic institutions.”
New Jersey Republicans tried to turn the verdict into a fundraising opportunity. From an NJGOP email blast: “Now, more than ever, it is CRITICAL to ensure we deliver New Jersey for President Trump.”
Take a look at Trump’s response here.
Said Somerset County Democratic County Chair Peg Schaffer:
“Former President, now convict, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for President, was just endorsed by Congressman Tom Kean. Although given much latitude and a full and fair opportunity to defend himself, Mr Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts by a jury of his peers in a New York court. Due to his wealth and fame, he had the best possible legal team. But largely because of his lack of a filter, the team could not mount much of a defense. Query why they didn’t call Weiselberg, if Cohen was the ‘greatest liar of all time.’ The discipline, care and patience shown by the Judge and Jury in the trial is proof that America is still a nation of laws. As Democrats we will continue to fight for America and its freedoms. To do so we must re-elect Joe Biden along with the entire Somerset County Democratic Team. The rule of law prevailed today. Electing a felon could destroy it.”
A New York jury on Thursday found former President Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony charges of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels by his then-personal lawyer before the 2016 election.
Trump is the first former U.S. president to be found guilty of any crime.
His sentencing was quickly scheduled for July 11 at 10 a.m. ET.
Trump, who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faces a maximum possible sentence of four years in prison for each count.
Politico considers the political implications here:
throughout his first trial and, moving to get ahead of events, are arguing that regardless of the verdict in the New York hush-money case, they can spin it in his favor.
In the campaign’s internal polling, two-thirds of respondents say politics played a role in his criminal indictments.
I think this is terrible to do president trump this way. Why did they wait until now? Is it because the y know he’d win the presidential vote in November
Poor baby, Sandra. Need a safe place? He’s not President Trump, by the way. That’s in the past. Try “Convicted Felon” Trump. And if you support him, you are a traitor to the country. So go cry, bimbo.
In other news Joesixpack got arrested for a parking ticket he didn’t know he had, lost his job for missing work, couldn’t afford the impound fees on his car, , fell behind on child support and has a court date, lost his apartment.
LOCK HIM UP!!!!!!
Regardless of your personal feelings for former President Trump or any of the other presidential candidates; What is going on is profoundly undemocratic. “We the People” should be able to determine our next President, with a fair vote in the ballot box. “ We the People” should be able to hear ALL the presidential candidates debate . “We the People” need to protect the Constitution and not let an election be won in a courtroom, rather than on the debate stage. This is un-American. This is why so many are skeptical of the government, do not trust authority, and disrespect each other’s opposing views . For those looking to destroy our Union , this is great. Divide and conquer. We are all Americans, and our precious liberties are at stake. This is a wake up call.
After 35+ years dealing with the NJ & NY courts, still can’t figure out what the crime was. It was another Blue State “railroad job” by the courts. NJ & NY are the most corrupt court systems in the U.S. All one has to do is look at all the lawyers in the NJ legislature, Executive branch, and obviously the Judiciary. Talk about conflicts-of-interest for violation of Separation of Powers?!?!?!
Legal experts, from law school professors like Dershowitz and Turley, to top level criminal defense lawyers still can’t understand what crime Trump was charged with. Lawyers who have dealt with Judge Merchan in NYC have said, as a judge, he is nothing more than “dumb” and a “bully”.
Time to eliminate JUDICIAL IMMUNITY for all judges. This is the perfect case for it. Judges should no longer be allowed a 500-yr. old doctrine from the Star-Chamber proceedings in Old England (not even American law) giving them immunity. Litigants MUST have the right to sue judges for violating their rights, since the appellate courts are an expensive, complicated waste of time where only 10-20% of cases are overturned, where more than 1/2 should be.
Eventually this verdict will be overturned on appeal. How this may impact the election is unknown.
Should Biden win reelection understand that he will never be physically or mentally able to finish the term.
President kamala will be a real interesting presidency. This is a candidate who was the first to quit the 2020 democrat primary for lack of support.
Elections have consequences and I hope that anyone voting for Biden will be satisfied.
Trump’s convictions are not to be taken lightly. To dismiss them casually as rigged is to engage in ideological rhetoric that is disrespectful of the American legal system.
Former President Donald Trump became the first president sitting or former to be convicted of a felony. The charges were complex involving a predicate misdemeanor (filing false business records) in furtherance of a crime (election manipulation by suppressing Trump’s alleged affair and payments by Trump attorney, Michael Cohen, to former sexual partner and other manipulations of records and information). There were 34 counts in all. Trump was convicted on all 34.
Are the Manhattan charges unique? No. The charges were novel only in substance but not process. There is precedent for this type of indictment under New York law. The charges themselves are not exotic. The only novelty is the substance of the underlying charges – hush money in the context of election law triggered by false business records. Statute of limitations for misdemeanors under New York law is also complex. However, prosecution was delayed by temporary immunity of Trump while in office which tolled the running of the time of the statute of limitation.
On appeal in New York, prediction of outcome is not certain.
So is there a larger constitutional question? A writ of habeas corpus can be filed federally to ask the courts to intervene when a state violated federally protected rights. I have not heard this discussed publicly. What would those rights be? They might be due process rights or equal protection.
With the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court, (SCOTUS)., it is unclear how much the conservative majority would interfere in state discretion based in federalism. SCOTUS might interfere as it did in Bush v. Gore or might not as in the Terry Schiavo case.
Nevertheless. patriotic Americans should respect election results and court decisions even if they disagree with the results. It is the hallmark of our democracy for which many have given their lives.
BetsyRoss1776,
Both campaigns agree that the election should be decided at the ballot box. As a Biden supporter, I do appreciate your sincere attempt to present your heart-felt sentiments in a way that respects both political parties.
This election cycle there are more than 2 presidential candidates running for the office. RFK JR is running as an independent. Once a life long democratic, the DNC made sure there would not be an opponent challenging Biden. Hence, as an avenue to run for President in 2024 he needed to change his affiliation. to Independent. I’m not sure of the process by which the DNC or RNC controls the narrative, but it seems a bit underhanded and profoundly undemocratic. Hillary did it to Bernie and I am sure there are other examples to site. So many voters have jumped ship from both parties and identify as Independent or Libertarian. So a debate should include all candidates. We need to get past the stormy and hunter story lines and get down to real business; wars, medical freedoms, inflation, out of control spending in which billions are unaccounted for, term limits, hate and division, poor education, immigration, a real discussion about abortion and how is too far, religious freedoms, housing and food prices, loss of the middle class, globalization, chronic disease, drug addiction , homelessness, human trafficking, corruption in government, censorship, eroded trust for the rule of law , bias media , and so much more. So have an informative debate with the participation of ALL candidates. We are all in this together no matter which side of the political side you are on. But I would venture to say most are in the middle.