The real verdict is going to be on Nov 5': Donald Trump, becomes first former US President to be convicted

 The real verdict is going to be on Nov 5': Donald Trump, becomes first former US President to be convicted

Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor, who said the two had sex.

Donald Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime on May 30 as a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election. 

The 12-member jury pronounced Trump guilty on all 34 charges after two days of deliberation. The former US President sat stone-faced while the verdict was read. 

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” an angry Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real verdict is going to be November 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.” 

Judge Juan M Merchan has set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where GOP leaders, who remained resolute in their support in the aftermath of the verdict, are expected to formally make him their nominee, AP reported. 

The crime of falsifying business documents carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though those convicted often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation. Incarceration would not legally prevent him from campaigning, or taking office if he were to win, according to the AP report. 

The former US President is expected to appeal the verdict. 

“We are going to appeal as quickly as we can. We will seek expedited review of this case,” Trump attorney Will Scharf told Fox News. 

His campaign has already moved quickly to raise money off the verdict, issuing a pitch that called him a “political prisoner.” 

Trump faces three other felony indictments. He has pleaded not guilty in all the cases and has portrayed his various legal troubles as an effort by Biden’s Democratic allies to hurt him politically. 

Biden’s campaign said the verdict showed that no one was above the law and urged voters to reject Trump in the election. “There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box,” the campaign said in a statement. 

The White House declined to comment on the former President’s conviction. 

Trump’s fellow Republicans quickly condemned the verdict. “Today is a shameful day in American history,” House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement. 

No material impact on re-election

The conviction is unlikely to have an impact on the re-election of Trump in the upcoming November elections. 

The US Constitution only requires that presidents be at least 35 years old and US citizens who have lived in the country for 14 years. 

Neither a criminal conviction nor a prison sentence would affect Trump’s eligibility or his ability to become president. In theory, he could be sworn in from jail or prison if he were to unseat Democratic President Joe Biden in the November 5 election, according to a Reuters report. 

Jailhouse presidential campaigns are not unprecedented in US history. 

Eugene V Debs was a Socialist leader and activist, who ran for president from a Georgia jail cell in 1920 after speaking out against World War I. The other, Lyndon LaRouche was a far-right conspiracy theorist, who ran in 1992 while in a Minnesota prison for tax evasion, mail fraud and other charges.