Washington (agencies)
Former US President Donald Trump, who became the first president to be convicted of a criminal crime, said that the real judgment against him will be on November 5 by the people, referring to the date of the presidential elections.
Trump’s statements came after a jury in New York convicted him of “forging documents to conceal a sum of money that he paid to buy the silence of a pornographic actress before the 2016 elections,” in what is known as the “buying silence” case.
Trump’s lawyer vowed to appeal the ruling, while the former president denounced the trial, which he described as “fake,” considering the ruling against him “a shame because he is an innocent man,” and stressed that “the real ruling will be issued by the voters on the day of the presidential elections on November 5.”
In a post on the Truth Social website, Trump said: “Victory on November 5th, save America!!!”
On the other hand, Michael Tyler, communications director for the Biden campaign, said: “Today’s ruling does not change the fact that the American people face a simple truth, which is that there is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: through the ballot box.”
Judge Juan Merchan set next July 11 as the date for pronouncing the ruling, that is, 4 days before the start of the Republican National Convention on July 15, which is expected to witness the official announcement of Trump’s candidacy to run in the upcoming elections.
Trump could be sentenced to a few years in prison, but he will not be imprisoned until all possible stages of appeal have been exhausted.
The decision of the 12-member jury came after deliberations over two days, concluding that Trump is guilty on all 34 charges he faces, as unanimity was required for any guilty verdict to be issued.
This ruling pushes the United States into an unprecedented situation before the presidential elections scheduled for next November 5, when Trump seeks to overcome Democratic President Joe Biden in order to return to the White House.
On the other hand, the White House merely said that it “respects the rule of law and does not make any further comment,” in response to the historic criminal conviction issued by the jury against the former president.
In turn, the public prosecutor at the trial, Alvin Bragg, welcomed the guilty verdict, considering that “the jury had its say when it found the accused guilty of all 34 charges against him.”
Bragg said during a press conference, “The only voice that matters is the jury’s voice, and the jury had its say,” noting that the 12 members of the jury unanimously issued their decision to convict the defendant of 34 charges related to aggravated accounting fraud to hide a conspiracy aimed at corrupting the 2016 elections.
For his part, lawyer Todd Blanche, the defense agent for the former US President, announced that the ruling will be appealed “as soon as possible.”
Blanche said: “We will appeal the ruling as soon as possible,” explaining that “in New York, procedures require that the sentence be pronounced first, and then we will appeal.”
He added: “There was a lot of publicity about the witnesses and their surroundings, and our justice system is not supposed to allow every person who enters the courtroom to know about the case.”
He added: “The law stipulates that any person has the right to a fair trial before a jury of his peers, and we believe that everything that preceded this trial made it very difficult for the jury to independently evaluate the evidence.”
Blanche pointed out that “Trump’s legal team will fight hard now, with proposals scheduled to be submitted within a few weeks,” noting that “if that does not succeed, he will appeal the ruling after it is issued in July.”
Following the condemnation of Trump, his supporters expressed their anger, invaded sites supporting him, and called for “riots, revolution, and revenge,” according to what Reuters reported.
Some supporters called for “the targeting of jury members,” while others called for “the execution of Judge Juan Merchan,” and others went so far as to “call for civil war and armed rebellion,” according to Reuters.
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