Donald Trump Guilty on All Counts in Porn Star Hush Money Case
With overwhelming evidence that he broke campaign finance laws, Donald Trump was just found guilty on all 34 counts by a jury in his porn star hush money trial. He was officially a convicted felon after a unanimous verdict from all 12 jurors in New York and is now the first former president to become a convicted felon as well.
New York State Justice Juan Merchan then announced that sentencing would happen on July 11, 2024. This is just 11 days before the Republican National Convention, where the Republican party is slated to nominate Donald Trump as their nominee to run for the White House on November 5.
The former president is currently facing a maximum sentence of four years in prison, according to Reuters. However, the crimes he committed are white-collar crimes that often receive shorter sentences, fines, or probation. Should Donald Trump be imprisoned, he would not be prevented from campaigning or taking office should he win though. He will also not be jailed ahead of sentencing.
As expected, Trump ranted and whined as he went out of the courtroom, telling the reporters that "This was a disgrace," along with his usual complaints and claims that the trial had been rigged against him. The jury found that Donald Trump could not disprove the corroborated testimony by Michael Cohen that the former president ordered him to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their affair as he ran for the presidency in 2016, thus breaking campaign finance laws.
Cohen paid Daniels out of pocket, and Trump paid him back the $130,000 hush money payment his then-lawyer made, plus a bonus. However, this reimbursement was disguised as legal fee payments, thus once again breaking the law as this counts as falsifying business records.
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Donald Trump Cannot Pardon Himself Should He Win the Presidency
Trump is expected to appeal the verdict over and over again. However, those believing that he can just pardon himself if he wins the presidency would be mistaken as the porn star hush money case is a New York state case, not a federal case. Presidents can only pardon federal cases.
As The Washington Post pointed out, only the governor of New York could pardon Trump but this is unlikely to happen as New York has a Democratic governor, who is also very much a Trump critic.
Crowds Cheer After Donald Trump Guilty Verdict in the Porn Star Hush Money Trial Was Confirmed
Outside of the courthouse in downtown Manhattan, there was a mix of anti and pro-Trump protesters, and the result was clear which side was cheering loudly when the verdict was announced as anti-Trump protesters were celebrating, cheering, and waving their guilty signs.
According to the Associated Press, the cheering from the street could be heard all the way up on the 15th floor of the courthouse. Meanwhile, f around 100 Trump supporters gathered and murmured in disbelief when they found out that their dear leader was now a convicted felon.
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This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: Crowd reacts to Trump's guilty verdict outside courthouse - WPLG Local 10