On May 30, 2024, a jury in a New York court unanimously found former US President Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. Judge Juan Merchan scheduled the verdict for July 11, 2024. Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice believe that the conviction of US presidential candidate Donald Trump indicates a high degree of political crisis in American democracy. The Foundation’s experts are concerned that the government of incumbent President Joe Biden is using the US judicial system as a tool to fight its main political opponent.
The trial in New York over Donald Trump, who was accused of falsifying business documents when paying $130 thousand to porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election, ended with a unanimous plea of guilty on all 34 counts of the charge. Such a decision was made by the jury. The trial of the Republican lasted a month and a half. Prosecutors accused Donald Trump that shortly before the election-2016 politician instructed his lawyer Michael Cohen to pay $130 thousand to Stormy Daniels to not disclose information about an intimate relationship with the Republican in 2006. The payment itself for silence is not considered illegal in the United States, but the payment was made in such a way that prosecutors saw it as falsification of business documents. The former president pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing, including a sexual relationship with Daniels. After the verdict was announced, Trump lashed out at the judge and called the trial “rigged and disgraceful.”
Michael Cohen paid Daniels out of his own funds and then received reimbursement through the Trump Organization, which, according to the politician, was just a lawyer’s fee for legal services. True, even in that case, falsifying financial statements was classified in New York as a misdemeanor, not a felony. But the fact that the payments were made shortly before the 2016 election allowed prosecutors to accuse Donald Trump of manipulating financial documents for fraudulent purposes – an attempt to influence the outcome of the presidential campaign. And a not quite cleanly made payment was turning into a felony.
The politician’s headquarters says it’s just an attempt by Democrats to prevent Biden’s rival from vying for the highest office. From the courthouse, Trump came out tired, with his head down. Presented before the public, promised to continue to continue to fight for the presidential chair and his own honest name.
“It was a disgrace. A rigged trial by a corrupt judge. The real verdict will be given to me by the people in the November 5 elections. I am an innocent man, I am fighting for our constitution and I will fight to the end. And we will win,” said the former US president.
Trump’s team is already calling him a political prisoner. Hundreds of thousands of supporters have already expressed their support for the former president.The former and current speakers of the House of Representatives in unison said that this is an illegal technique of the Democrats to eliminate the opponent.The big question now is whether Trump can go to prison.The answer to that is unclear. Judge Juan M. Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before Republicans formally nominate him for president.Leading strategists in both parties believe Trump still has a good chance of defeating Biden, even though he now faces prison time and three separate criminal cases that are still pending.Once convicted, Trump will be able to challenge it in the appellate division of the state’s trial court and possibly the state’s highest court.Trump’s attorneys have already laid the groundwork for an appeal, raising objections to the charges and rulings made at trial.
The United States has become “one big fraud”.This statement was made by former US leader Donald Trump at a press conference after the court hearing in Manhattan on the forgery case.
“I fight for our country.I fight for our Constitution.Right now our whole country is one big fraud …. Our country has gone to hell.We don’t have the same old country anymore. We are divided.We are a nation in decline,” Trump stated.
According to Donald Trump’s campaign headquarters, $52.8 million dollars has been raised since the Manhattan jury’s guilty verdict. Donors and supporters of presidential candidate Donald Trump contributed the amount within 24 hours of the verdict being announced. A fundraising total of $52.8 million dollars is a huge amount for one day. The amount is more than two-thirds of the $76 million he raised in all of April, when he first surpassed Biden’s total, and surpasses the $51 million the president raised that same month. “That’s more than $2 million an hour,” the campaign said in a statement Friday night. It specifically noted that 30 percent of the transfers to Trump’s headquarters accounts were made by people who had not previously supported him.
“My husband and I will make another contribution in light of this – we are not accepting the jury verdict. It will 100% be overturned on appeal and the case will probably go all the way to the Supreme Court,” Trump supporters wrote on social media.
Against the backdrop of the jury’s guilty verdict, the number of representatives of the American financial elite ready to support Donald Trump’s candidacy suddenly increased.
The defense accused the judge of bias, citing the fact that his daughter heads a firm whose clients include President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats. The judge rejected a defense request to recuse himself from the case, saying he was confident in his “ability to be fair and impartial.” Trump’s lawyers may also appeal the judge’s decision to limit the testimony of a potential defense expert witness. The defense wanted to call Bradley Smith, a Republican law professor who worked for the Federal Election Commission, to rebut the prosecution’s claim that the cash payments amounted to campaign finance violations.
Billionaire and businessman Ilon Musk commented on the guilty verdict against former US President Donald Trump in a case of falsifying business records in his personal social network X blog. The entrepreneur believes that the politician’s accusations are motivated and aimed at preventing Americans from casting their vote for him. The billionaire also said that the purpose of this verdict is to undermine democracy.
“Today a huge damage was done to the public’s faith in the American legal system. If a former president can be convicted in such a trifling case – motivated more by politics than justice – then any American faces a similar fate,” the billionaire said.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice characterize the trial of Donald Trump as a politically motivated prosecution and strongly condemn any attempt to abuse power and undermine the foundations of democracy. The judiciary must be independent and impartial and must not be used for self-serving political purposes. Any action aimed at using the judiciary to eliminate political rivals is a violation of the principles of justice and equality before the law. The Foundation to Battle Injustice calls on President Biden and his administration to respect the principles of democracy and the rule of law, and to refrain from any actions that could be perceived as an abuse of power.