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By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
On a cool Thursday afternoon, in a New York courtroom, history was made as a somber Donald Trump, former president of the United States, listened to a jury pronounce him guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He sat slack, becoming the first former president ever to be convicted of a crime. “Our whole country is being rigged right now,” Trump declared. “This is being done by the Biden administration to wound or hurt a political opponent.” That statement is unequivocally false. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is the local prosecutor in Trump’s New York trial, and the case had nothing to do with President Biden or his administration. Trump was convicted of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to erupt while he was running for president in 2016.
Prosecutors argued it was an unlawful effort to influence that election. But Trump has tried to turn that accusation on its head, calling it the “Biden trial,” “election interference,” and a “witch hunt.” His allies quickly echoed these sentiments. Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake described the verdict as “the most egregious example of election interference and an outright mockery of the rule of law in the 246-year history of our Republic.” Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the trial a “purely political exercise, not a legal one,” accusing the Biden administration of weaponizing the justice system. That strategy aims to erode public faith in the system that convicted Trump, a move likely to worry Republicans and Democrats alike about the future of American democracy. “This was a conviction by a jury of Americans who listened to the evidence and made their decision,” Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the New York Times. “When you undermine courts the way that elections have already been undermined, there is no peaceful way to settle differences.”
For Trump and his campaign, the party line is clear: grievance, anger, and a call for revenge. Former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican Senate candidate, faced immediate backlash from Trump’s senior advisor, Chris LaCivita, for urging Americans to respect the verdict and legal process. “You just ended your campaign,” LaCivita retorted. “I couldn’t help but think throughout this trial of Donald Trump sitting through days of testimony in Manhattan Criminal Court,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. “This is the same building that Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise all passed into, day after day, as they endured a show trial for a crime they did not commit. These children had to hear vitriol from people whose anger was incited by a man who spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for their execution. Now the shoe is on the other foot. Donald Trump is the criminal, and those five men are exonerated.”
Judge Merchan has scheduled Trump’s sentencing for July 11, allowing Trump to remain free until then. Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, each carrying a potential sentence of up to four years. However, legal experts consider that he will unlikely receive a cumulative sentence exceeding four years. Merchan also has the option to impose probation instead of prison time. Before sentencing, Trump will meet with a psychologist or social worker to present his case for a more lenient punishment. Even if Merchan does impose a prison sentence, Trump might not have to serve it immediately. The judge could permit him to stay free while his appeals are processed, which could take months or even years. This could potentially extend beyond Election Day and reach the Supreme Court.
Despite his conviction, Trump can still run for president. The Constitution does not disqualify him from holding office due to a felony conviction. He could even campaign from prison. If elected while incarcerated, Trump would not have the power to pardon himself for state charges. However, he could argue that his imprisonment hindered his ability to fulfill presidential duties and that he might seek legal avenues for release. “I’m reminded of Dr. King’s proverb that the arc of history is long,” Sharpton concluded. “But it bends toward justice.”
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