Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Photo: AFP
Donald Trump is the first former US president to be convicted of a criminal offence. Local time on Thursday (May 30) a New York court found him guilty of 34 counts of concealing information in business documents. Trump is running for the Republican Party in the presidential election held in the country after a few months. Aljazeera news.
A judge found Trump guilty of concealing information in business documents about paying porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her mouth shut. He faces up to four years in prison for each of the 34 charges in the case. However, he is more likely to get probation.
The 77-year-old Republican leader is now a felon. This is the historic verdict, where a former president of the world’s most influential country has been found guilty. Sentencing in this case will be announced on July 11. He was not, however, barred from running against President Joe Biden in the November election. In an immediate response, Trump told reporters, “I am a very innocent man.” He called the verdict “targeted” and “disrespectful.”
Trump said, “The people will give the real verdict on November 5.” They know what happened here. Claiming his innocence, he hinted to file an appeal against the verdict in the High Court. “We will fight for our constitution,” he said. Thank you very much.
A statement from Biden’s campaign said, “The judge has shown that no one is above the law.” There has never been a greater threat than Trump has posed to our democracy.
Judge Juan Marchan set the sentencing date for July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Earlier, the court’s 12 judges deliberated for more than 11 hours over two days before reading out the verdict. Chief Justice Marchan thanked the other judges for successfully completing the ‘difficult and stressful task’.
Trump also faces trial on charges of conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results. Apart from this, there is also a case against him for allegedly taking government secret documents with him while leaving the White House.