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What’s next for Donald Trump after hush money conviction
NEW YORK (AP) – Donald Trump conviction on 34 criminal charges marks the end of the former president’s historic secret trial, but the fight over the case is far from over.
Now comes the sentencing and the possibility of a prison sentence. A long appeals process. And at the same time, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee still has to deal with three more criminal cases and a campaign that could return him to the White House.
Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 criminal counts marks the end of his historic hush money trial. But the fight is far from over. Here’s what you should know.
- How did Trump respond? Trump falsely criticized a “rigged trial” and attacked a key witness in a speech on Friday. Follow AP’s live coverage.
- When is the sentence? July 11th, just a few days before Republicans are set to choose Trump as the 2024 candidate.
- Can Trump vote? He can be convicted and reside in Florida, but you can still vote as long as he stays out of prison in New York State.
- Will this have an impact on the elections? It is unclear whether Trump’s once imaginable status as a person convicted of a crime will have any impact on voters.
After more than nine hours of deliberations over two days, the Manhattan jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records in the case arising from a silent payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during her 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump angrily denounced the trial as a “disgrace,” telling reporters he is an “innocent man.”
Some important conclusions from the jury’s decision:
AP correspondent Norman Hall reports on the reaction outside Donald Trump’s Florida residence.
PRISON TIME?
The big question now is whether Trump will be able to go to prison. The answer is uncertain. Judge Juan M. Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before Republicans formally defined to nominate Trump for president.
The charge of falsifying business records is a Class E felony in New York, the lowest level of criminal charges in the state. It is punishable by up to four years in prison, although the punishment is ultimately up to the judge, and there is no guarantee he would give Trump any time behind bars. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to say whether prosecutors would seek prison time.
It is unclear to what extent the judge can take into account the political and logistical complexities of imprisoning a former president who is running to regain the White House. Other punishments may include a fine or probation. And it’s possible the judge will allow Trump to avoid serving any sentence until his appeals are exhausted.
Trump faces the threat of more serious prison sentences in the other three cases he faces, but those cases got bogged down in appeals and other legal fights, so it is not yet clear whether any of them will go to trial before the November elections.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE ELECTION
A member of the media reviews former President Donald Trump’s news on his phone following the conclusion of Trump’s hush money trial, in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool Photo via AP)
The conviction does not prevent 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.
Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday that Trump would hold virtual rallies and campaign events if he were convicted and sentenced to house arrest.
In a deeply divided America, it is unclear whether Trump’s once-unimaginable criminal conviction will have any impact on the election.
Top strategists from both parties believe Trump still remains well positioned to defeat President Joe Biden, even though the Republican now faces the prospect of a prison sentence and three separate criminal cases still pending.
In the short term, at least, there were immediate signs that the guilty verdict was helping to unify the disparate factions of the Republican Party, as GOP representatives from across the political spectrum united in support of their presumptive presidential nominee in in trouble and his campaign reported a flood of fundraising dollars within hours. of the verdict.
Some polling has been carried out on the prospect of a guilty verdict, although such hypothetical scenarios are notoriously difficult to predict. A recent ABC News/Ipsos Poll found that only 4% of Trump supporters said they would withdraw their support if he were convicted of a crime, although another 16% said they would reconsider the decision.
RESOURCE AVENUES
Former President Donald Trump leaves the courtroom after a jury found him guilty of all 34 criminal charges in his criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (Justin Lane/pool photo via AP)
After Trump is convicted, he could challenge his conviction in a New York appellate court and possibly the state’s highest court. Trump’s lawyers have already laid the groundwork for appeals with objections to the charges and rulings at trial.
The defense accused the judge of bias, citing his daughter’s work running a company whose clients included Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats. The judge refused the defense’s request withdraw from the case, saying he was certain of his “capacity to be fair and impartial”.
Trump’s lawyers will also be able to appeal the judge’s decision limiting the testimony of a potential defense expert. The defense wanted to call Bradley Smith, who served on the Federal Election Commission, to refute the prosecution’s claim that the hush money payments amounted to campaign finance violations.
But the defense ultimately did not make him testify after the judge ruled that he could provide general information about the FEC but was unable to interpret how federal campaign finance laws apply to the facts of Trump’s case or opine on whether the Trump’s alleged actions violate these laws. There are often barriers surrounding expert testimony in legal matters on the basis that it is up to the judge—and not an expert hired by one side or the other—to instruct jurors about the applicable laws.
The defense may also argue that jurors were improperly allowed to hear sometimes explicit testimony. by Daniels about his alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, which he denies ever happened. The defense unsuccessfully pushed for a mistrial due to the tawdry details prosecutors obtained from Daniels. Defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that Daniels’ description of a power imbalance with the older, taller Trump was a “rape dog whistle,” irrelevant to the charges at hand and “the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to go back back. ”
A DEFENSE FOCUSED ON CREDIBILITY
People react to the guilty verdict announced against former President Donald Trump in front of Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
The verdict shows that the jury was not persuaded by Trump’s defense, which depended on attacking the credibility of some key witnesses — especially Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer-turned-adversary who directly implicated Trump in the hush money scheme.
As in many criminal cases, Trump’s lawyers tried to make many of their points while questioning prosecution witnesses. The defense called only two witnesses, including Roberto Costelloa defense attorney who tried to represent Cohen after he 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 an alleged pressure campaign aimed at keeping Cohen loyal to Trump after the FBI raided Cohen’s property in April 2018.
Costello supported the defense by testifying that Cohen denied to him that Trump knew anything about the hush-hush $130,000 payment to Daniels.
But prosecutors portrayed Costello as a “double agent” whose agenda was actually to stop Cohen from turning against Trump and confronted him with emails he sent to Cohen in which he repeatedly flaunted his close ties to Trump ally Rudy Giuliani. In an email, Costello told Cohen: “Sleep well tonight. you have friends in high places” and reported that there had been “some very positive comments about you coming from the White House.”
The bellicose Costello angered the judge – sometimes in full view of the jury – by continuing to speak after objections and rolling his eyes. At one point, after throwing the jury out of the room, the judge became furious when he said Costello was staring at him. Merchan then briefly cleared the courtroom of reporters and reprimanded Costello, warning that if he acted again he would be removed from the courtroom.
ESTABLISHING THE BASIS FOR A LOSS
Former President Donald Trump leaves the courtroom after a jury found him guilty of all 34 criminal charges in his criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, Thursday, May 30, 2024, in New York. (Justin Lane/pool photo via AP)
While projecting confidence, Trump and his campaign also spent weeks trying to undermine the case ahead of a potential conviction. He has repeatedly called the entire system “rigged” — a term he also used in false descriptions of the election he lost to Biden in 2020.
“Mother Teresa could not defeat these accusations,” Trump said on Wednesday, invoking the Catholic nun and saint.
Trump criticized the judge and complained about members of the prosecution team while trying to paint the case as nothing more than a politically motivated witch hunt carried out by Bragg, a Democrat.
He also complained about a gag order that prevented him from talking about some people involved in the case. Instead of testifying in the case — and submitting to cross-examination — Trump focused on the court of public opinion and the voters who will ultimately decide his fate.
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Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Steve Peoples and Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.