Donald Trump has made legal history again, as he is now the first president to be tried and criminally convicted.
On Thursday, the former president of the United States was found guilty of 34 felonies. Trump was facing four indictments while he was prepping for the 2024 presidential race. The Manhattan case involved hush money payments to pornstar Stormy Daniels and an attempt to conceal damaging information from voters to improve his chances in the 2016 election.
This all started in 2015 after National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that he met with Trump and Michael Cohen to have a conversation about what his “magazines could do to help the campaign.” Pecker claimed that he agreed to assist Trump’s campaign by suppressing stories that targeted him. The publisher’s company paid $30,000 to a former doorman on Trump’s property who falsely alleged that the former president fathered an illegitimate child and $130,000 to Karen McDougal, a woman who claimed to have an affair with Trump.
Additionally, in 2016, Pecker alerted Cohen that Daniels was in the process of shopping around a 2006 story about her encounter with Trump. Cohen then informed Trump of the news and paid Daniel himself. Trump later reimbursed Cohen in 2017 with $130,000, which was disguised as legal expenses.
As a result, NY Judge Juan Merchan has set Trump’s sentencing for July 11th, which happens to be just four days before the Republican National Convention. Trump could face up to four years behind bars, but as a first-time offender, he could avoid prison and receive probation instead. Nevertheless, the news quickly spread throughout social media, and many users shared their reactions to the verdict. See what they had to say below:
https://twitter.com/KellyrKopp/status/1796299394360467464
https://twitter.com/SusanSolomon/status/1796290419031986362
